


Shucks

by Kalyppso



Series: A Comedy Of Errors [2]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Background Ferdinand von Aegir/Hubert von Vestra - Freeform, Background Relationships, Background Sylvain Jose Gautier/Felix Hugo Fraldarius - Freeform, Blow Jobs, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Foursome, M/M, Multi, My Unit is not Byleth, Nonbinary My Unit | Byleth, Other, Penis In Vagina Sex, Polyamory, Smut, Threesome, Vaginal Sex, no beta we die like Glenn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:02:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24056407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalyppso/pseuds/Kalyppso
Summary: More Modern / College AU Claude x Lorenz x Hilda x Fae (an afab nonbinary My Unit). Lorenz accidentally outs himself to Ferdinand, but he's bi too so it's fine and they talk about their relationships a little bit. They're at a New Year's party, so then there's the countdown to look forward to, and then the aftermath when Lorenz will be able to speak with his partners, and seek intimate assurances. There will be breaks in perspective throughout.
Relationships: Ferdinand von Aegir & Lorenz Hellman Gloucester, Hilda Valentine Goneril/Claude von Riegan, Hilda Valentine Goneril/My Unit | Byleth, Lorenz Hellman Gloucester/Claude von Riegan, Lorenz Hellman Gloucester/Hilda Valentine Goneril, Lorenz Hellman Gloucester/Hilda Valentine Goneril/Claude von Riegan, Lorenz Hellman Gloucester/Hilda Valentine Goneril/Claude von Riegan/My Unit | Byleth, Lorenz Hellman Gloucester/My Unit | Byleth, My Unit | Byleth/Claude von Riegan
Series: A Comedy Of Errors [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1735465
Comments: 13
Kudos: 12





	1. I'm Bisexual.

**Author's Note:**

> All Fire Emblem properties and characters have credit to Nintendo and their respective creators / owners. I'm just playing.
> 
> Everyone is their post timeskip ages.

The second last set of finals complete, the last set of classes already begun, a few days left before the end of winter break, and Garreg Mach University’s graduating class was happy to celebrate the roll into the new year.

Claude was on track for his post graduate program in Almyra, Lorenz’s father’s company had more or less already hired him as cosmetic chemist despite his inexperience (the picture of nepotism, but Sylvain had talked him into just taking the money, while other friends were simpler in their encouragements, saying that if he truly found himself unable to handle the tasks or working for his father, that he could always leave), while Fae and Hilda would be scouring local and foreign school boards for paid positions; as volunteering hadn’t been the networking gold mine that had been advertised.

Sylvain had asked Lorenz’s opinion about hosting a New Year’s party two weeks ago. Despite being eager to guarantee space and privacy for his friends, and to force his father to pay for the clean up, he didn’t want to be saddled with the burden of “hosting.” As a result of this conversation, Fae had offered to hold a party at their father’s place, which he’d trusted to them under the rules that no windows or appliances were broken, and no one would be sleeping in his bed by the time he returned from his own New Year’s Eve celebrations.

They left an open invitation in the graduating group chat, and kept insisting to people concerned about the gathering guest list that it was fine.

The basement wasn’t finished, but it was clean, furnished and decorated. Guests were encouraged to keep their shoes however, because though there was usually a carpet, it had been rolled aside in anticipation of any forthcoming mess. An old picture tube tv sat atop a trunk and played Fae’s mother’s old Bob Ross tapes while people cycled in and out, or hung around the entire time, recreating mountains and seascapes with incorrectly colored paints and colored pencils and sleeves and sleeves of old stickers that were finally finding use.

Fae had expected the basement to be quieter, but often their squeals and laughter could be heard even over the music on the main floor. There was not the space for dancing, though occasionally someone would try, to the point where Fae asked Claude and Caspar to help them relocate a bunch of odds and ends to their bedroom before they were knocked over and shattered. There was enough room for singing, air guitar and drinking games however, and seats enough for gossip and conversation.

It was fairly obvious that at least twice different couples snuck away upstairs for what they insisted was private conversation, but Fae had brought Raphael with them to open the doors anyway, saying that they were allowed to talk privately, but the doors were remaining open. There was much hollering about their walks of shame when they marched back down the staircase.

For now, the kitchen was the true place of repose. Quiet, except for the muffled gaiety of the party beyond the door, opened only as people shuffled to and from the refrigerator, though most drinks were out on the tables on the main floor. It was here that Lorenz had retreated to when Dorothea and Annette had started leading a chorus of the latest comedic pop song that warbled over the sound system.

Ferdinand had found him soon afterwards, as he collected more ice for the others, and then had returned to sit with him. They spoke about their lives, as they often did, which included detailing Ferdinand’s continued interest in pursuing a Master’s degree, and Lorenz had intended to contribute some of Claude’s experience with the relevant preparations, but what had left his mouth was, “My boyf—”

Lorenz slapped a hand over his mouth, eyes wide as Ferdinand’s. There wasn’t even a possibility to imply he’d meant any other word besides boyfriend. If any other word started with that sound Lorenz couldn’t think of it. Besides, his reaction had been telling. He squeezed his opposite hand around the bottle of betrayal he held.

Ferdinand leaned forward in his seat, orange curls swaying around him, making no effort to mask his interest and delight. “Your boyfriend?” Lorenz winced, took another swallow of his drink and set down the bottle as Ferdinand went on, “Lorenz, that’s wonderful! Is he here?”

Lorenz covered his eyes instead for a moment and swept his hand through his hair as he begged, “No, oh, Ferdinand — please. Can we forget I said anything?”

Ferdinand ran the nail of his thumb along the edge of the label of his own drink, his expression more sympathetic. “There’s nothing to be ashamed of, Lorenz.” He curled his hair over an ear as he confessed, “In fact, it’s a bit of a relief.” His eyes flickered to the window and back to Lorenz’s face. “I’d been … reticent to be completely open with you — which is ridiculous, you’re my best friend after all!” Lorenz squinted about the comfort and Ferdinand tilted his head thoughtfully. “But being so involved in each other’s lives, did make me nervous about how you’d react if I were honest about my own sexuality.”

“Oh.”

Ferdinand smiled about Lorenz’s reaction, and when Lorenz’s embarrassment seemed to be giving way to a smile in return, Ferdinand finished, “I’m bisexual.”

“I…” Lorenz hesitated, touching his neck and looking at the door as if someone might burst through it. He stuttered through his response. “I-I suppose I am too … though I’ve never said it aloud.”

Raising both his fists towards his face as if pumping his arms in some kind of celebration, Ferdinand bit his bottom lip, giddy. “This is so exciting,” he insisted, despite Lorenz’s reluctance. He gestured with a hand as he asked, “Do you feel as relieved as I do?” Lorenz opened his mouth, but as it was clear that he absolutely did not feel relieved, Ferdinand plowed onward, explaining more of his own worries. “Even if you’d reacted positively, I feared telling you in case you let something slip in the company of a common acquaintance that might reach back to my father.”

“Ferdie…” Lorenz whined, looking guilt-ridden over something entirely beyond his control.

Ferdinand waved his hand dismissively, still bright. “I know, I know. A baseless fear.” He jut out his chin to assure him, “You’ve been a vault to all other secrets — including your own, it would seem.”

“Well,” Lorenz huffed a laugh, “I’m glad my error has endeared myself to you.” They shared a quiet laugh then, and Lorenz rested his chin on his linked hands, elbows on the table. “You’re a good friend.”

He suspected that Ferdinand might even understand the berth of his circumstances if he were to confess them, but worried that might be the alcohol finding his mind after already having confused his speech. Regardless, Lorenz was not prepared for Ferdinand to find his enthusiasm again so quickly as Ferdinand gestured once more with his hand asking, far too loudly for Lorenz’s liking, “So tell me about him! It’s not every day I get to talk about boys with Lorenz Hellman Gloucester.”

“Ferdie!” Lorenz hissed in disbelief, still smiling, and Ferdinand was laughing.

“There’s no harm,” he promised. “Tell me anything! His name, his age — or whatever it was you were about to share before you cut yourself off?”

Lorenz took another sip of his drink, and licked his lips. “He’s twenty-four.”

“Is he your first boyfriend?” Ferdinand asked, emboldened by Lorenz’s concession.

“Yes.” Lorenz blushed and drank again.

“Are you his?” Ferdinand moved to follow his example, but stopped short of bringing his bottle to his lips when he heard Lorenz’s answer.

“I have to doubt that.”

“You don’t know?” He slammed his bottle on the table and then looked apologetic and resumed indulging in a mouthful.

Lorenz ran his middle finger along the back of his opposite hand. “I know he’s slept with other men, but not whether he’s dated them.”

“Lorenz,” Ferdinand said in surprise, as if chastising him, and Lorenz was shaking his head, regretting his confession in the most amicable interpretation of regret. “Your phrasing implies that you’ve been intimate with this twenty-four year old harlot.”

Wrapping his hand back over his mouth, Lorenz failed to suppress or hide his smile and let his hand drift down to his chin as he admitted, “A lot. More than a lot.”

Ferdinand tapped his feet back and forth, laying both hands flat on the table, clearly amused by this detail. He tossed his head back before exclaiming, “Since when?!”

“Oh my goodness,” Lorenz sighed. “Since when?” He thought about it, sitting back, crossing his arms. “It’s close to a year now. It’ll be a year in February.”

“That’s…” Ferdinand trailed softly. His voice rose in volume and urgency as he accused, “And you have the gall to look scandalized at the word boyfriend? To have never said aloud you’re bisexual?”

“I—” Lorenz moved to argue, but Ferdinand cut him off with a question, sharper than before, his eyebrows knit in concern.

“Is he closeted?”

“Yes,” Lorenz answered instantly, though it was not in the way Ferdinand would expect. For being polyamorous only.

“Does he live at home?”

“Ferdie,” Lorenz warned, concerned too many details would shorten a list of suspects Ferdinand was likely forming.

“I just…” Ferdinand slowed down, adjusting his hair. “Do you have somewhere safe? I’m worried about you.”

Lorenz pouted sympathetically. “He has an apartment. We spend our time there.”

Ferdinand nodded, finishing his drink and sighing. He smiled at Lorenz again afterwards, and was relieved to see that he was smiling too, though Lorenz was looking at his hands, pinching his thumb nervously. He waited for Lorenz to look back up to him before whispering in wonder, “A year. A year and I haven’t met him.”

There was something in Lorenz’s eyes then that caused Ferdinand to realize his error and Ferdinand’s eyes blew wide as he said louder, in accusation, “I have met him.”

Lorenz curled his hand under his chin again as he nodded. “He is here.”

“And yet you’re sitting here with me?” Ferdinand teased.

“There’s more to it, Ferdinand,” Lorenz whined, “... and I want to tell you, but I…”

Ferdinand shook his head and waved his hand as he assured his friend, “I’ll leave you your relationship secrets for now,” he tilted his head and gave Lorenz big, pleading eyes, “but then I must hear about you.”

Lorenz scoffed, collecting their bottles as he stood, declaring, “You need to switch to water.”

“I’m barely slurring,” Ferdinand protested, as Lorenz found them each a cup.

“Maybe we’ll switch back before the countdown,” Lorenz allowed, returning to the table. “What do you wish to know of me?”

“How long have you known?” Ferdinand asked, pleased.

“You’ll laugh,” Lorenz groaned.

“That’s the point, isn’t it?” Ferdinand taunted, taking a sip of water. “I think I’ve always known. I was far too enamored of the damsels _and_ the princes in those animated films as a boy.”

“That’s hardly embarrassing,” Lorenz asserted, finding Ferdinand’s admission adorable, swallowing a long draught of water.

“Oh, go on,” Ferdinand prodded.

“Viggo Mortensen in Lord of the Rings.”

“Oh, but who could blame you?” Ferdinand approved, but Lorenz hardly looked mollified.

“Oh, no,” he whined.

“What?” Ferdinand laughed as Lorenz hid his face in his hands.

“I have a type,” Lorenz bemoaned from behind the shield of his hands, sliding them down far enough to reveal his eyes.

Ferdinand simply smiled as the sun and leaned down on his elbow. “Oh, do tell.”

Lorenz removed his hands, swiping at his bottom lip absently before holding his hands together in front of himself. “Brazen, emotional, sweaty, sexy, with dark hair and kind, light eyes.” He bent forward further to rest his forehead on his hands as he groaned, “What a nightmare.”

Buzzing, Ferdinand giggled. “Goddess, it is taking _everything_ in me not to run off in search of this description.”

Lorenz chuckled too as he sat straight again. “He looks nothing like Viggo, at least. In that, I am spared.”

Ferdinand licked his lips and was blushed exceedingly red as he confessed, “My boyfriend also has dark hair and light eyes.”

For a moment Lorenz thought he might choke. He gasped in horror, “Ferdinand!” Smugly, Ferdinand drank more water as Lorenz scolded through his surprise, “You would let me suffer like this while you—?”

“Uh-huh,” Ferdinand confirmed after an audible swallow.

“Is _he_ here?” Lorenz asked desperately.

“He is **not** here,” Ferdinand enunciated, perhaps disappointed. “He… We’ve been dating for six weeks,” he said by way of explanation. “And we’ve not been intimate. Yet.”

Lorenz sighed before he offered, “It took me and my…”

“Boyfriend,” Ferdinand supplied, but Lorenz shook his head.

“Partners,” Lorenz corrected, even as Ferdinand’s mouth hung open in surprise. “It took me and my partners six weeks before we were intimate.”

“No,” Ferdinand exaggerated. “What? No.”

“Yes,” Lorenz insisted. “I … I want to tell you, but I worry they would see me as untrustworthy… I already told Sylvain.”

Ferdinand scoffed in disbelief, bringing a hand to his neck. “You told Sylvain before me?”

Smiling, Lorenz shook his head, holding his hands up from where his forearms rested on the table as he offered, “Not long before you … a few months?”

“ **Months?** ”

“Eugh,” Lorenz agreed. “That does make it sound terrible.”

Ferdinand sighed. “Wha—? You—? Goddess, Lorenz.”

“Are you … disgusted?”

Ferdinand wrinkled his nose as if offended by the question. “No. I’m just surprised … and **more than a little** put out about being in the dark.” Lorenz snickered, and nodded. “How many partners are you referring to?”

Lorenz swallowed, sobered a little again. “Three.”

“ _Three!?_ ” Ferdinand held his hands up by his head in exasperation as he looked to the ceiling, laughing again when he addressed Lorenz, gesturing with his right hand as if throwing something skyward. “And all for a year?”

“All for a year,” Lorenz agreed, nodding.

“Well then,” Ferdinand laughed once more, a single bubble of surprise, “I suppose you know how to make it work for you.”

“For now,” Lorenz allowed, wondering what graduation would bring. He was sure he would feel an acute loss over Claude’s apartment, as if he was gone but his space remained that would be one way to deal with it, but where and how and whether he and Fae and Hilda would meet once Claude and his safe space were gone, was something they hadn’t explicitly discussed.

The kitchen door swung open, and Lorenz was glad that they were not in the midst of their conversation, but Ferdinand looked shocked.

“There you are,” called a voice as dark and rough as gravel.

“Hubert?” Ferdinand answered, standing, as Lorenz was turning aside to look at their guest. “What are you doing here? I never even gave you the address.”

“Edelgard texted me for a solid hour about how I couldn’t allow you to ring the new year alone,” he confessed with a twitch in his brow. “Despite being at a party surrounded by people, and while she and Lin are each passed out and having their nails done.”

Ferdinand chuckled, and when Lorenz saw Hubert smile, he thought he might stand to leave and give them a moment, but Ferdinand quickly turned, his fingers linked with Hubert’s, and offered introductions, bringing Hubert to the table to sit and meet one of his friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been thinking of writing this since November so... Yeah. Also, Part 1 of this series was 1 chapter of 8k words, but I wanted to post something as I am hopeful for Validation, so this Part will have a few chapters - and likely the same number of words.
> 
> My recognition of my own bisexuality is both - I always knew. And Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider. I just picked a movie that came out the same year for Lorenz to make reference to, and I'm so sorry for anyone who cringed about it.
> 
> I'd love a kudos or comment. <3
> 
> Stay safe during covid-19.


	2. Tempt Me

During their conversation, Hubert, Ferdinand and Lorenz were frightened out of the increasingly busy kitchen. A number of self-proclaimed bakers had rushed to and from the corner store for milk, butter and eggs, and were beginning a rush to finish a few, varied confections before the clock struck twelve.

Unable to leave a point half-made, Lorenz followed the other two to the staircase where they sat and he leaned on the banister as he rattled on with Hubert about the inefficacy of fallacy in modern storytelling. Lorenz’s eyes were drawn to Ferdinand while Hubert spoke, the redhead sitting two steps up and leaned back out of his boyfriend’s line of sight where he could express his amusement and adoration freely, as Lorenz tried to gauge whether Hubert was truly annoyed, or if this was just his usual level of verve.

Lorenz left them in the company of friends as the subject changed, and wove his way back to the living room in search of a seat. The main couch was occupied by Claude, Fae and Leonie, who was flipping through different New Year’s celebrations on the television, disproving of any number of musical performances, and when Fae caught sight of him, looking a little lost and hopeful, they nudged Claude and whispered to him.

With a smile and a jerk of his head, Claude beckoned Lorenz as Fae stood. Shifting behind them, Claude positioned himself in the middle of the couch with Fae in his lap. It would be cramped, but Lorenz was already stepping behind where Hilda and Marianne were seated on the floor to fall into place next to him.

“Hey.”

Claude’s voice was soft and gentle from drink, and Lorenz tilted his head towards him before looking straight ahead. He let his shoulders stiffen and relax as he leaned into the cushions.

“Hi.”

Fae twisted themselves towards Lorenz as they looked over their shoulder at Claude. “Don’t do that,” they hissed.

“I haven’t done anything,” Claude protested at a whisper, half a chuckle escaping him as he adjusted his posture, leaning forward with his arms around them.

Pursing their lips at him for a moment longer, Fae wobbled their head as they turned away from him, a motion that found a natural rhythm as they bobbled along to the band on the television.

“Oh, this station has palm trees,” Fae observed, tapping on Leonie.

“Boramas it is,” Leonie declared. She reached for Fae then, who ended up sitting longways in her lap, with their legs down across Claude as the trio gossiped about the music.

Next to Lorenz was a loveseat, where Lysithea, Linhardt and Raphael sat, in the chair and on the floor, in debate of the definition of cake, when considering the ship of Theseus. Thus far, it seemed they could only agree that a cake had multiple ingredients — and was a solid, the second qualifier being quickly added after Claude had unhelpfully suggested soup was a cake once they’d agreed upon the first rule.

Spurred on by Claude’s laughter, Linhardt suggested that the differences between lasagna and tiramisu were also negligible, being similarly composed of dairy, dough and fruit. Lorenz and Raphael took a firmer stance in their counter argument, even as Lysithea decided she was above this and went to check on her baking.

Over the course of their discussion, as ridiculous as it was, Hilda had begun lace braiding Marianne’s hair, moving them to where she could lean back against the base of the couch. She and Lorenz shared a distracted smile, but it was Fae who leaned forward to talk with the ladies.

Eventually, cake and empty plastic champagne flutes were being distributed as the room started to fill with the basement, kitchen and porch crowds — all critical of Sylvain’s insistence that the champagne not be opened until midnight, which was fast approaching.

“Augh, but my legs are asleep!”

Hilda whined as the others who’d been seated on couches, chairs and cushions were standing in anticipation of the countdown. With an exaggerated whine, she let Fae and Marianne help her up, Fae’s hand lingering on her forearm. Hilda smiled, bittersweet, and made accidental eye contact with Lorenz, who took a deep breath and looked away almost instantly.

Rolling her eyes about him, Hilda didn’t even react as he continued taunting Sylvain from halfway across the room, “Can’t have everyone ready to toast the new year, then you wouldn’t be able to figure out who isn’t getting a New Year’s kiss. Need a list of who’s available for later.”

Hilda wondered about Lorenz’s bravado, and whether he was suggesting that unlike Sylvain he did have someone to kiss. She’d thought he might have spent more time with her tonight, it would have been a good smokescreen as a start to a relationship, and a New Year’s kiss seemed like his brand of romance. When he hadn’t initiated anything of the sort, Hilda had convinced herself that she was relieved, to be able to focus on her friends more diligently.

“Not this year,” Sylvain answered the same time Felix barked.

“Shut up, Lorenz.”

Claude snorted with laughter and Lorenz turned to him muttering, “Now I _really_ wish I had a drink.”

Despite this, Lorenz looked disappointed when one of Sylvain’s closed bottles was passed down the line, and made its way to his hands.

Fae touched his elbow, and Hilda shared a hopeless look with Claude as the countdown began, and then there was none of that awkward longing as they smiled together, as friends and confidants, and turned their attention back to their other loved ones.

Each number was met with irrational excitement, a bounce of anticipatory cheer. The hope of endings, the joy of beginnings, and the chaos of the moment scaring off the introverts and spurring on the rest of the crowd. The chorus of ‘Happy New Year’s was quieter than the countdown had been, as people fell out of sync, what with Sylvain popping a bottle, Ingrid and Caspar blowing on party horns, and several pairs of lips quieted by kisses. Ashe, Dimitri and Sylvain started a rendition of Auld Lang Syne, which others joined as Sylvain filled their plastic glasses.

Claude and Fae shared a kiss, a slow, polite expression of affection. Hilda’s gaze flittered over them to Lorenz, to see that he was watching them too, for longer than she dared to, and with an eager giggle she turned back to Marianne, taking her in arms.

“Let me be your first kiss of the year?” Hilda asked, sincere and good-humored.

“Not if I get her first!” Leonie teased, and she and Hilda raced to each kiss one of Marianne cheeks as she squeaked in surprise and covered her mouth and nose in both hands.

It was half a second between Hilda’s question and Leonie’s reaction, but this was long enough for Lorenz to turn at her voice, and smile sadly about the realization that ‘of course she hadn’t been talking to him,’ subtle as they were trying to be. Like his other partners, he would have to satisfy himself with kissing her later, and for the moment, focused on untwining the seal on the cork of the bottle he held.

The night was more chaotic afterwards, as the crowd seemed equally torn about whether the night was winding up or winding down. Dorothea coordinated a few people with a ride-share app, Ferdinand and Hubert left together, and Dedue offered to take no more than one additional person than would legally fit in his vehicle, but a number of guests were either going to sort out leaving at a later time, or, subtly or not, implied that they would be staying.

Conversation, song, and increasingly discoordinated games saw 2:00 AM come faster than it felt midnight had as far as Fae was concerned, and they had ushered Claude, half-conscious, to their bedroom as they’d sought blankets and pillows and anything else soft and comfortable to make beds out of the furniture in the basement and on the main floor for the remaining guests.

Before taking the opportunity to sneak away to bed, Fae caught Sylvain alone.

“For all your concerns about hosting, you did a lot of that tonight. Thank you for helping.”

He smiled, a little lazy and drunk, as his eyes darted to and from the living room, and he answered at a hush, “I just wanted an hour or two alone with Felix,” and winked, “and I got that, _so_ —”

“Sylvain!” Fae cursed.

“To talk!” He raised his hands as if in defense, and turned his head as if slapped. He lowered his voice again as he shrugged and admitted, “And, maybe make out a little.” They both laughed as Fae swatted at him and he eased his posture. “We were _outside_ ,” Sylvain insisted. “It’s a Faeghusian summer out there.”

Fae’s smile widened. “Well it’s a Fodlani winter, so let me know if anyone needs more covers or socks. And text me if you’re leaving.”

“Sure thing. G’night.”

“Night.”

Upon opening the door to their bedroom, Fae was met with soft whispers and gentle laughter, and a boundary of shucked pants from the door to the bed. Claude lay over the covers with his head in Hilda’s lap, with Lorenz beside them with his back to the wall. They waited in silence as Fae quickly closed the door, a careful swing and a press with the faintest click, securing their privacy.

“You tucked everyone in?” Claude teased.

“They’re too rowdy for that,” Fae laughed, taking a seat at the edge of the bed, running a hand over his chest, “but at least they’ll have somewhere to sleep after they’re done telling ghost stories.”

Turning their attention to Hilda next, Fae stretched across Claude and reached out to her shoulder to balance themselves. “Happy New Year.”

Their heart felt tight as Hilda accepted their kiss, laying a hand on their side as Claude shuffled out of Hilda’s lap to offer Fae more space. This only encouraged more movement as Fae and Hilda rolled around, so that Fae was leaned back against their pillows and the wall with Hilda draped over them with one hitched knee.

Unable to see much more than Hilda’s shoulder from his position, Claude rolled onto his side, curling around Lorenz where he sat on his crossed feet.

“Not a lot of room,” Lorenz observed.

Claude chuckled. “Just kick me onto the floor.”

“Not a lot of room for kissing,” Lorenz amended, rolling his eyes. He curled a hand over Claude’s shoulder and ran his thumb back and forth. Hilda reached out to click off the lamp, leaving them in the pale blue light from the window to Lorenz’s left. His shadow cast Claude in darkness, but still Lorenz could see the hints of his smile, feel the brunt of his affection. “If you can make due sleeping squished among us, then I’ll be fine.” Claude scoffed. “Although,” Lorenz agreed, “this does feel smaller than even your apartment did those first few weeks.”

“It’s just a night,” Claude protested, trying to say that he could put up with the lack of space for one night, but he sounded so dismissive that Hilda pouted.

“It’s an important night.”

Claude was halfway through rolling back when Hilda’s hands took the sides of his face with either hand and tipped his head back to kiss him from overhead. He whined and shoved against Lorenz for purchase so that he could twist up and around to be more in line with Hilda, to kiss her longer, and more comfortably.

“You’re right,” Claude agreed, before turning his head and snuffling into his fist, stifling a yawn. She was shaking her head at him by the time he spoke again. “Happy New Year, Hilda.”

“Happy New Year,” Hilda echoed, catching Claude’s mouth in two more quick pecks, while behind him Lorenz bent and stretched his legs, shifting to lean on his right elbow, hopeful, and presumptuous, that _someone_ might kiss him before they all fell asleep.

Lorenz caressed his left hand over Claude’s hip and between his thighs, and shared a smile with Fae as Claude whined, tired and helpless as he rolled away from Hilda, onto his back.

“You’ve stayed up later than this,” Lorenz taunted, curling a leg between Claude’s as he extended his arm around Claude’s far hip, embracing him.

“I’ve already had my workout for the day,” Claude argued, wrapping his hand around the one on his hip. His eyes were squinted closed, but he smiled, and could feel the others snicker around him. Opposite the foot of the basement staircase, Fae’s father had a pull-up bar that had enough support for him, Raphael, Petra, Caspar, Ingrid and Dimitri to take turns making fools of themselves. Claude had made the further mistake of trying to mimic Petra’s upside down pull-ups.

Squeezing Claude’s tired fingers, Lorenz turned to Hilda, watching her curl her hair behind her ears. “Happy bir—”

The others were instantly laughing at him, Hilda leaning away with her face in her hands. Claude held his stomach as he wheezed, “Don’t make me laugh _like that_.”

“Oh. You’re really _drunk_ drunk,” Fae said, widening their eyes for emphasis. They squeezed at Hilda’s hips. “Let me up?”

Sitting up, Lorenz rubbed at his eyes and swept his hands over the bridge of his nose in embarrassment as Hilda shifted to sit closer to the edge of the bed, Fae standing behind her. He pouted at Hilda as he linked and stretched his fingers. “I’m an idiot.”

She turned to face him, her smile amused and earnest as she reached out to run her fingers through his hair and guide him forward by the scalp for a long, tender kiss. Lorenz placed his hands on her sides, and let them slip further up her back as she hummed another little laugh against his lips before pulling away.

“Happy New Year, Lorenz.”

With a furrowed brow, Lorenz sighed, letting his shoulders slump as he answered, “Happy New Year, Hilda.” He hesitated before lamenting, as silly and selfish as it was, “I had hoped to be your first kiss of the year, but…”

Hilda couldn’t help leaning her neck away from him in surprise and assessment. Her hands curled around Claude’s forearm and she shook her head as she said, as if in accusation, “But you didn’t kiss me?”

He blinked his eyes wide, surprised by her reaction and a little distracted as Fae undressed; it seemed their shirt was too tight to pull their bra off without removing it. He focused on Hilda.

“Of course not,” he said quickly, tilting his head. “I thought… I mean we’d spoken about subtlety. Secrecy.” He swallowed, as Hilda looked sympathetic and he wasn’t quite sure why. “Privacy?”

“About the four of us,” Hilda clarified.

“Fuck, Lorenz,” Claude contributed from where he lay between them.

“I thought you just didn’t want to kiss **me** , except behind closed doors.”

“Are you—” Lorenz nearly choked. “Are you serious?”

“You wouldn’t even need to pretend to be my boyfriend,” Hilda said, smiling stupidly now, rolling her eyes. “You can just **be** my boyfriend.”

“I would love that,” he promised, reaching out to slide his hands from her upper arms down to her hands, guiding them up to his lips. “I’d really… I’d love for me to be your boyfriend in public.”

“Me too,” Hilda said, feeling the warmth and surprise in her throat, the heavy beat of her heart.

“You are so fucking slow to the punch, man,” Claude criticized in good humor, while Fae was humming out their joy as they clambered back onto the bed, in their tee shirt and panties, and hugged Hilda from behind.

Fae kissed Hilda’s cheek once and then rested their chin on her shoulder as they lamented for Lorenz, “It’s overdue.”

With another sigh, Lorenz nodded, letting some of his tension leave him.

“Sleep now?” Claude peeped.

“Just a few minutes more?” Fae requested, extending one of their hands into his from where their arm was still wrapped around Hilda. “It is an important night, and you’ll be leaving soon.”

Claude pouted. “Not that soon.”

Lorenz kissed Hilda’s hands again and then let them drop between them as he leaned forward to kiss Fae as they straightened up off of Hilda’s shoulder. “Our first New Year _together_ ,” he said, as if in celebration, turning his face to kiss Hilda’s cheek before he leaned back away from them.

“We’ll make it to the next one,” Claude insisted, upset that Fae would be thinking of his upcoming departure for Almyra.

“Maybe,” Fae said, tilting their face into Hilda’s neck for a moment, indulging in her warmth and perfume, and the invitation. “Or maybe you’ll not want to be waiting for us the whole time you’re away, and you’ll think it’ll be easier to break up with us,” Claude’s eyes snapped open, brow furrowed, but he let them continue, “and Lorenz and Hilda will have sorted out being a couple by then, and…”

“Fae,” Claude worried, failing to sit up, his midsection protesting the half-crunch he’d been putting himself through.

“Where is this coming from?” Lorenz asked, as Claude finally pulled himself up against the pillows.

Bumping her forehead to Fae’s, Hilda kept her hands secure around their arms. “Don’t worry about them,” she whispered, flashing a look at Claude before closing her eyes. “They just have less experience being the other woman.”

Hilda had expected Fae to scoff or snicker. She hadn’t expected them to rip from her to where they could look into her eyes, Claude and Lorenz looked horrified with her too.

“Hilda, you are not ‘the other woman,’” Claude insisted, very firmly.

“Do I make you feel that way?” Fae asked, aghast.

Lorenz looked heartbroken, and ran his hands over the tops of her thighs, but whether as a result of nervousness or a desire to be soothing, Hilda couldn’t guess. She looked from one worried partner to the next before stuttering out a soft, “Sorry…”

“No. Hilda,” Fae whined. “You have to tell us when you feel like that, okay? That’s not what I want for us, or for you…”

“I’m sorry if Fae and I have been inconsiderate in public,” Claude insisted, reaching out to touch Lorenz’s back to emphasize his point, “but I haven’t had one partner for months.”

“I know.”

“Fuck, I wish I wasn’t drunk for this,” Lorenz lamented.

“I know,” Claude agreed.

Hilda giggled. “It’s fine. You’re fine. I’m fine.” The pair of them looked unconvinced, but Hilda turned to Fae anyway, kissing them again, “I’m fine.”

“Tell us tomorrow how we can make you feel more important to us?” Fae suggested. They slumped. “And I’m sorry for talking about _hypothetical insecurities_ while you were dealing with present ones.”

“I love you,” Hilda said in answer.

“I love you too,” Fae promised.

“Good,” Claude declared, grabbing the side of Lorenz’s face with one hand and leading him into a lazy kiss. “I love everyone, my head feels out to here,” he gestured vaguely, “and I’m going to sleep.”

“Love you too,” Lorenz answered with a soft laugh, only to be met with shushing as Claude rolled onto his side in the bed. Hilda clambered over him to rest on Lorenz’s stomach as he laid on his back, wrapping them in a blanket, while Fae curled around Claude’s upper back, the tops of their knees up against his behind, securing him a place as little spoon as they tugged a sheet over the pair of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is SO CHEESY. I embarrass MYSELF. fajdshfkjhgadsjk
> 
> I debated cutting Felix's line, and any references to Sylvix, but ... I couldn't help it.
> 
> I'd love a kudos or comment! This Part will likely be longer than Part 1 if I'm honest. We'll be back at 4 AM for chapter 3, and chapter 4 will be smut.


	3. Early Morning Mistakes

Geralt fumbled with his keys, but was unsurprised when he found the door unlocked. The inside of his home was dark but for the light of the kitchen, and flashing colors on a far living room wall reflecting something from the television. A pile of shoes blocked the entryway, and he tapped at them with a foot before adding his own to the assortment.

He tilted his head skeptically at the young man coming down from the second floor.

“Hey. Good morning,” Sylvain greeted, trying not to look or feel guilty under his newly arrived host’s critical gaze even as he rattled off a justification. “Happy New Year. I was just rifling through your bathroom for cotton balls. Dimitri’s just doing a quick wipe down of his prosthetic eye, and then I think we’re going to bed.”

“Heh, happy New Year to you too,” Geralt chuckled. “You found everything okay?”

“Yeah,” Sylvain confirmed with a nod, finishing his descent. “What’d you get up to tonight?”

Handing a grocery bag that contained an empty chocolate bar wrapper and a full tin of ground coffee to Sylvain, Geralt led them to the living room. “Concert downtown. Saw some faces I hadn’t in a few years. Was good. Before that I went to some ‘family fireworks’ at a ten o’clock countdown with my granddaughter.”

“Nice,” Sylvain praised.

“Morning, kids.” Geralt greeted the crowd at a regular volume, realizing he maybe should have been a little more hushed as at least two of them were asleep, and those who were awake looked only half-aware, turning away from the space opera on the television. Even so, a soft chorus of voices rang back.

Caspar was the slowest to answer, squished in the loveseat with Linhardt. “Mornin’, Mr E.”

Geralt thought of New Years’ gone by, and being similarly surrounded by friends and strangers past the witching hour. “I’d thought you’d guys would still be raring to go. I brought coffee. Figured it would either be good now, or in twelve hours.” He watched the flashing fight scene on the screen for a long moment before asking, “Fae in bed?”

“For about … two hours now,” Caspar answered, craning his neck to see the digital clock below the television. He twisted himself so that he was half flopped over the armrest of his seat. “You going to chew them out for leaving us unsupervised?”

Geralt shrugged. “Place is still standing. Windows’re intact. Only thing worth stealing is the television, and I can see that it’s where I left it.”

The conversation stuttered at the sound of a slammed door, and Ingrid frowned at Sylvain in accusation. “Did you leave Dimitri alone?”

“He’s fine,” Sylvain insisted, halfway into a sigh and an eye roll. He was not going to argue on Dimitri’s behalf in front of their host. “I’ll go check on him,” he assured her. He added, for Geralt, in passing, “There’s cake in the fridge.”

A few minutes earlier, the closing of the front door caused the house to sigh and rattled Fae’s bedroom door.

Claude huffed, wiggling uncomfortably in the cramped quarters between his partners. “That better be someone leaving. If people start taking turns to … go out for a smoke…”

Claude was already yawning, and so it was easy for Fae to comfort him with a soft cooing noise, but in the silence that followed Claude’s faded words, Fae heard the sounds of heels going _down_ the staircase, and then an extremely familiar muffled voice.

“No. That’s just Dad,” they announced, and Claude groaned in acknowledgement.

Hilda waited a moment to see if either of them reacted before curling her hands in the fabric of Lorenz’s shirt and asking, “He wouldn’t come in to check on you. Right?”

Fae took long enough to answer for Hilda to adjust her position to sit up, and Lorenz to roll on his side, meeting Claude’s confused expression.

“I don’t think so. That’s not something he normally does. He usually gives me my space.”

Despite Fae’s assurances Claude was forcing himself towards Lorenz and shimmying closer to the base of the bed so that he could roll over and add his own skeptic frown to those Fae was facing.

“ **He’ll knock** ,” they said with more conviction, but Hilda hid her face in her hands, unimpressed or unconvinced. “If he comes at all. And _if_ he knocks, I’ll meet him at the door. He’ll be expecting Claude anyway, and wouldn’t want to intrude.”

“I don’t want to be pantless around your dad — even if I’m hidden under a blanket and beyond a door,” Hilda insisted, throwing the sheet off herself and Lorenz towards the wall, moving to get up.

Fae wouldn’t have needed Hilda to elaborate, as they hadn’t even wanted to wear a skirt or dress in the presence of Hilda’s family, and it was with a deep, earnest empathy that they rolled over to start a coordinated fall out of bed. “I’ll get us pajamas.”

“You’re feeling less modest?” Claude teased Lorenz, rolling away and onto his back as room on the bed opened up.

Leaned on his elbow, Lorenz laughed once, sardonic. “I’m not going to make Fae look for something that might fit me.”

Hilda gathered her and Lorenz’s clothing while Fae stepped into some dark blue pajama pants, lightning strikes patterned across the loose-fitting material. She traded the bundle for a soft set of nightclothes, pale green and decorated with cute, little orange dragons. With a smile, Hilda stepped towards the opposite side of the room and dropped them on a chair at Fae’s desk to free her hands to pull herself out of her shirt.

Fae was kicking the clothing on the floor to the far side of their dresser, Claude spooned up against Lorenz, talking to him over his shoulder, while Hilda stood, in peach panties, reaching out to the clothing on the chair, when the door opened.

Dimitri had been on the verge of insecurity and frustration not long ago, but Sylvain had talked him out of it. Sylvain had even trusted Dimitri to clean and dry his own eye, despite how some others would feel the need to hover or tend to him, especially inebriated as he was. As such, Dimitri had felt disoriented, but responsible — even put together, as he left the bathroom, and, responsible, inebriated and well-intentioned, he remembered the fuss Fae and Raphael had had to make about closed bedroom doors earlier and went to open the one on his left out of a sense obligation.

Clapping her hands to her arms to shield herself, Hilda squeaked in terror, her throat constricted in fear as she sat back against the bed.

“Saint Seiros.” Lorenz cursed, darting up to wrap Hilda in the closer blanket, which had been covering Claude, revealing his and Lorenz’s bare legs to their intruder.

Fae was covering their mouth with one hand, watching the hall behind Dimitri, as he made eye contact with Claude who was shrugging in his direction, trying very hard to non-verbally communicate confusion and gentle outrage.

Dimitri put his right hand in the centre of his forehead, hiding his good eye as he tilted his face away, embarrassed of himself. “Sorry,” he blurted politely.

Fae held their hands up to either side of their face while Claude sat up, inching towards the edge of the bed as the pair of them hissed, “Close the door.”

“Right,” Dimitri agreed, accidentally slamming the thing. “Sorry.”

Having spun into Lorenz’s embrace with the blanket around her like a cape, Hilda snorted from over her shoulder before turning to laugh softly into Lorenz’s chest. She was actually relieved it had been Dimitri, and found that he was quite low on her mental list of worst possible scenarios.

Seeing Hilda’s reaction, and the humor in the situation, Claude was giggling also and gave Lorenz a hopeless tilt of his head when Lorenz scoffed about his reaction.

Fae’s hands folded into fists as they held their hands one atop the other at the center of their chest as they urgently called out, “Dimitri.”

At the same time Claude was trying to explain, “With you on the other side.”

Dimitri moved his hands from covering his eyes to holding his forehead, horrified with himself. Still turned to his left so that he was offering the others privacy, he stammered as he held up his left hand, his right reaching for the door handle, “Right. Sorry.”

Throughout the remaining chaos of Dimitri getting the door open and leaving, Lorenz chanted with increasingly less annoyance. “Get. Get out. Get. Out.”

“It’s fine,” Claude whispered.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Dimitri insisted through the open doorway.

“Go,” Fae begged, gesturing with their hands, linking their fingers when it finally shut behind him. Embarrassed that their door didn’t have a lock, Fae was relieved that at least it hadn’t been worse.

The door closed, at reasonable volume, Dimitri turned, with intention to lay his face against the wall to recover, and found himself face to face with Sylvain. His friend’s mischievous smile was distinctly unsympathetic.

“What did you see?”

Dimitri stared at Sylvain for a moment, trying to come up with an answer that would deter or eliminate further questions. He hated that, with his complexion and as flustered as he was, he was surely as pink as Hilda. The thought process leading to and from that analogy had increased his blushing tenfold and ruined the purpose of taking his time in answering. Still smiling, Sylvain tilted his head forward, wide eyes accusatory.

“Nothing,” Dimitri insisted, pressing past Sylvain to the stairs.

Curious, but not perniciously so, Sylvain whispered in their descent. “That’s not nothing.”

They sat at the kitchen table with Geralt, where he was finishing the last of Lysithea’s dairy-free cake, a surprisingly rich cocoa concoction, and one of a trio of accommodating desserts she had made, the other two being eggless, and sugar-free. Whether or not he’d have had any, the most popular dessert of the night was long gone, Mercedes having coordinated her skillset and a handful of others’ to helm the construction of an absolutely luscious cake, which had featured chocolate chips and banana cream.

Soon Geralt was excusing himself to bed, and the credits on the movie in the next room were rolling through, and Sylvain was feeling bold enough to elbow Dimitri and ask again.

“So, _how much_ did you see? Are you in never-talk-to-them again territory?”

“Sylvain…” Dimitri groaned, shielding his face in one hand. “I do not wish to further trample upon their privacy.” He let his hand drop to cover only his mouth before turning it to rest his face on the backs of his fingers, blue eye frightened and sad. “Do you think I should leave?”

“Dimitriiii-yuh,” Ingrid greeted, loud enough so that Sylvain extended his arms before raising a finger to his mouth to shush her. She rolled her eyes as she sat opposite him at the table. “What’s this? Why’re you leaving?” She leaned forward to place her weight on her elbows and rest her cheek on one fist.

“I walked in on Hilda,” Dimitri said very quickly, turning to his friend, and Sylvain’s eyes blew wide. He hated that both his and Dimitri’s luck meant that Dimitri wouldn’t have just told him to begin with, and that he would crack so easily when questioned by Ingrid. He instinctively felt like Lorenz would view him as the responsible party for this fallout.

Ingrid squinted, suspicion and confusion in equal measure. Sylvain was pretty sure she was trying to remember the last time she’d seen Hilda.

“Like in the bathroom?”

“No…” Dimitri said, thoughtful, and Sylvain prayed that this thought led to a return of quiet, flustered and sensible Dimitri. “She was in Fae’s room. Naked.”

“Oh, fuck,” Sylvain hissed, leaning away from the table and looking around to see if anyone else was on their way to hear Dimitri’s confession.

“With Claude.”

“Claude?!” Ingrid piped, aghast. Sylvain was instantly shushing her, raising a large open, pleading hand, and Ingrid had the grace to look guilty about her volume. “Claude?” she repeated, at a whisper.

Dimitri tilted his head and rolled his eye, his foot bouncing beneath the table as he conceded, “Well Fae was there too.”

“Dimitri,” Sylvain begged, warned. “Maybe we don’t need to—” ‘ _Ta_ _lk about other people’s business,’_ he’d hoped to finish, but his friends were ignoring him.

“Ew!” Ingrid had reacted.

“And Lorenz.”

“Eugh!” Whereas Ingrid’s exclamation of disgust had previously been a moral or behavioural judgement, this time her face actually contorted in disgust, and Sylvain frowned as he was torn between amusement and incredulity.

“And so I’m fairly certain I’ve insulted at least four people.”

“As if their ‘good opinion’ has any value,” Ingrid insisted. “I can’t believe they’d do _that_ while we’re all just a door away!”

“Ingrid,” Sylvain hissed, concerned about volume.

“So fucking rude of them,” she said, quieter. She scoffed, extending and rescinding her tongue, nose wrinkled at Sylvain. “You’re _infecting_ people.”

“What the fuck did I do?” he asked, hopeless, hands raised in defense.

“Hey,” Dimitri whined, not having meant to start a disagreement here also.

“This is worse than that one Halloween at Annette’s place.”

“That was **eight years ago** ,” Sylvain balked.

Dimitri’s phone blooped.

“Goddess,” Lorenz groaned, a smile creeping up on him as Hilda leaned away, still looking tickled. He sighed and turned to the others. “What now?”

“Now I’m going to finish getting dressed,” Hilda declared, and Lorenz rolled his eyes as he rubbed her shoulders, stepping around her.

“Then I’m going to lean on the door.”

“I doubt anyone was waiting just behind Dimitri to try the room next,” Claude said, his tone more curt than reassuring.

Lorenz rested his shoulders against the flimsy barrier. “Humor me.”

“Are you alright, Hilda?” Fae asked, sitting on the bed between her and Claude.

Hilda pressed her tongue to the roof of her mouth, trying to dismiss her blush as she worked to join the buttons on the pajama top she was borrowing. “It’s fine,” she insisted, sweeping her long hair out of the collar and down over her back. “At least I have nice boobs.”

Wincing sympathetically, Fae answered with a shrug and a nod.

“That’s hardly the point,” Lorenz worried from the other side of the room.

Claude leaned over until he was on all fours, crawling behind Hilda, waiting for her to finish dressing before hugging her from behind, holding his chin over her shoulder. There was a long pause in conversation, during which time Lorenz returned to the bedside, and found himself surprised by Hilda’s red eyes, the tears on her lashes that yet refused to fall.

When Hilda turned sharply away from Lorenz, Claude could tell she was flustered. He nuzzled his face into her neck and her hair, and assured her in a way that danced over her embarrassment, “You’re so beautiful, Hilda.” He kissed her neck, “Gorgeous.” And her cheek, “Radiant.” And her lips.

Pouting, Lorenz extended his left hand across Hilda’s lap to hold her far knee. He thought for a moment of pulling them back to serious conversation, but then Hilda had turned back to him, looking guilty, and the prospect of her feeling shame for either changing her clothing or seeking assurances broke his heart. Realizing she was simply offering beauty as an easier thing to comfort than the loss of control of whether, and when, and how, and how much one let others see your body, he let his hand drip from her far knee to inside her closer thigh, and promised, “Downright angelic.”

He pressed a kiss to her forehead and Fae felt obligated to ask, “So what about Dimitri?”

“He won’t tell anyone,” Claude said, shrugging, eyes still on Hilda.

“You’re sure?” Fae pressed.

“I mean, he’s not a vault,” Claude conceded, chuckling softly as he turned to Fae, “but he wouldn’t just gossip. He might tell someone if he was asked, but who’s going to know to ask?”

“There’s no harm in asking him **not** to talk about us,” Lorenz insisted.

“Yeah. Yeah, alright,” Claude agreed. He kissed Hilda’s ear before letting her go and moving to stand, confident his phone was in his pants pocket, when a woman’s shrill exclamation cut through the room, and he froze.

“Fuck,” Claude whispered.

“Who was that?” Lorenz asked.

“Uhhh,” Claude answered, rifling through the pile of clothing on the floor. “Well, it didn’t **not** sound like Ingrid.”

Hilda shoved her face into Lorenz’s shoulder for a moment, groaning.

“I’m so stupid,” she whined.

“You’re not,” Fae said, moving to the floor. They asked Claude, “What are you doing?”

“I’m looking for my phone,” he admitted, shuffling things on their bedside dresser, searching.

“I should have gone to the bathroom to change,” Hilda said to Lorenz, and he frowned and shook his head.

“If Fae were alone in their room changing, Dimitri, or anyone, could have just as easily wandered in on the same. It is not you or your body which causes us distress. Just ... each our own presence.”

While Hilda laughed about Lorenz’s assurances, and Fae went back to join them, Claude sat on the floor by the bed and typed out a message.

 **Claude (4:24 AM):** hey. do you think you can keep what you saw between us?

 **Dimitri (4:24 AM):** I’m so sorry.

 **Dimitri (4:25 AM):** I should have sent you an apology first. I really didn’t mean to walk in on you like that

 **Claude (4:26 AM):** it’s fine :)

 **Dimitri (4:26 AM):** I already told sylvain and ingrid.

Claude’s message loaded at the same time as Dimitri’s latest message and he felt his heart sink. It was less fine.

 **Dimitri (4:26 AM):** I’m sorry.

 **Dimitri (4:27 AM):** They’re still right here with me, I can ask them not to say anything. They’re good people.

Claude sighed. He could imagine the chain of Dimitri and Ingrid and — _who next? maybe Mercedes?_ — each trusting only one person to talk out their frustrations and personal feelings of what should actually have been a non-event. Claude found that he doubted Sylvain would have commented anything to indicate his prior knowledge of his relationship, and appreciated that the man had his own secrets to keep, both privately and with Lorenz.

 **Claude (4:28 AM):** thanks

“Dimitri told people,” Claude said, moving to sit on the bed, cutting off his partners’ conversation.

“Everyone downstairs?” Hilda worried, a hand on her chest.

“No, holy fuck,” Claude cursed. “Sylvain and Ingrid.”

“Are you going to message Ingrid?” Fae asked, and Claude groaned.

“Are you asking me to?”

“You know her best,” Fae insisted.

“Dimitri said he’d talk to her.” Claude winced, not being able to sound reassuring.

“Claude,” Lorenz scolded.

“Fine.”

Reawakening his phone, Claude realized that his assurances to Dimitri had been cheap, and messaged him one more time first.

 **Claude (4:31 AM):** and it’s okay. there’s nothing to apologize for. you’re forgiven

A phone vibrated on the bedside table, and Fae distributed the remaining devices. Lorenz had a text from Sylvain.

 **Sylvain (4:32 AM):** So… this is fun

While Claude had been texting Dimitri, he opened the main class groupchat in the messaging service they otherwise used to click on Ingrid’s account. ‘Knowing her best’ meant that they’d messaged each other a handful of times, but not that they were close enough to have exchanged numbers. He stared at the screen, and wondered how to broach the topic.

 **Claude (4:35 AM):** good morning. sorry to get you involved in all this. would you mind not talking about what dimitri saw with anyone other than him or me?

 **Ingrid (4:36 AM):** why would you think I’d want to talk about it? I’m still trying to repress the mental image

 **Claude (4:36 AM):** it’s obviously come up

 **Ingrid (4:38 AM):** yeah because Dimitri was upset! Understandably so! Where was that concern about other people fucking in their bed, all of a sudden? I can’t believe you’d all be so thoughtless! We’re a door away!

The dissonance Claude was exposed to between this message and the ease with which his partners were talking made Claude want to get dressed and go for a walk. He made due with pacing the room.

“Sylvain wants to know if you’d feel better if he went streaking?”

Hilda snickered. “Tell him there’s enough dick in my life.”

Lorenz replied something more similar to, ‘you made her smile.’

 **Claude (4:39 AM):** okay. well. it is their bed. 

**Claude (4:39 AM):** and nothing happened

 **Ingrid (4:40 AM):** Hilda was naked!

Claude put a hand over his mouth, his lips smiling but his brow frowning, as he thought of Hilda’s peach panties and Dimitri averting his gaze. He decided that it wouldn’t be worth it to correct this misunderstanding.

 **Claude (4:40 AM):** we were all politely turned away while she changed her clothes, it was dimitri who barged in

 **Ingrid (4:41 AM):** that’s worse than any excuse Sylvain may have come up with.

 **Ingrid (4:42 AM):** and what? I’m supposed to believe Hilda would just be fine changing her clothes in front of three other people?

The conversation was spiraling out of his control, but it was late, or early, and Claude had barely slept. He leaned on the wall as he replied.

 **Claude (4:43 AM):** tbf i dn’t care what you believe. i’m just asking you not to talk about it

 **Ingrid (4:44 AM):** fine.

 **Claude (4:44 AM):** ty

Claude approached his partners from the base of the bed, phone dropped on the chair where Lorenz had left his. He shifted up behind Hilda until he could wrap his arms around her.

“How’d it go?” Fae asked, and they giggled when Claude grumbled, pressing his face into their girlfriend’s soft pink hair.

He sighed. “Expect dirty looks tomorrow, I think, but…” trailing off, Claude let Lorenz take him by the hand, pulling him onto the bed as he shifted back towards the wall again, so that Claude was curved around Hilda, and they exchanged a glance, trust and relief on her tired smile. Fae sat up while Hilda curved into Claude next, and then leaned over her to kiss Claude, stroking at Lorenz’s face before pressing a kiss to Hilda’s forehead, and attempting to find some room on the bed.

Claude extended his arm past Hilda to hold Fae’s upper arm, each Fae and Hilda’s hands caressing over his own. He pouted, and finished his thought. “But everything should be fine. They agreed not to talk about it.”

Lorenz shuffled lower on the bed, bending his knees so that he could more comfortably pull Claude’s body against him.

Claude swallowed.

“Can we be less closeted?”

Part of him felt he should wait until he had more sleep in him before touching on the subject, but he rolled onto his back as Fae and Hilda started to turn and sit up to face him. He looked from Lorenz to Hilda.

“I know you **just** decided to refer to your relationship in public, and I’m not suggesting we go out of our way to tell people we’re together or explain what we do, or how we feel, but … I wouldn’t mind explaining to friends that asked. Dimitri might’ve been less freaked out if he’d expected to see us together.” He closed his eyes, exhausted, embarrassed and exasperated. “I’d like to call you my partners, and let people draw their own conclusions.”

“I—” Lorenz peeped, stopping when Hilda spoke at the same time.

“I’m not ready.”

Hilda braced herself. She expected Claude to look hurt when he opened his eyes, after letting himself be so vulnerable, and it hurt her that he looked so understanding. She imagined the confusion and disgust she’d face from her friends and family, and the unwanted advances from people who’d assume being bi and polyam meant sexually frivolous. People already made assumptions, based on clothing, make up and the pitch of her voice, but these were traits she’d had years to practice control over, to feel a little more secure in herself, and in their assumptions.

She turned to kiss Fae over her shoulder, and swallowed an apology as Claude ran a hand up her forearm, guiding her back down to his chest.

“Okay.”

Hilda tightened her grip on Claude as she felt Fae wrap around her. Lorenz untangled two long pink locks as he readjusted also, pressing a kiss to Claude’s cheek.

Hilda listened to Claude’s heartbeat for a moment, and then worried aloud, crushed and cramped as he was, “Can you sleep like this?”

Fae started to sit up, stopping when Lorenz reached out to hold their arm on Hilda’s side, so that the pair of them opened their eyes to look at him, and, as quietly as he could, he clarified, “He’s already asleep.”

Still, the noise and movement had Claude shift, and, being center to the group meant that he’d sent their balance spinning. By the time they woke, Hilda was laying so that her legs were across Claude and Lorenz’s hips, her neck bent up against Fae’s back, who had rolled over, and Claude’s elbows were sore from being pressed and bent for hours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I planned this chapter it was 2k and most of it was Claude and Ingrid's argument. I think I like that the argument ended up being smaller, and not the focal point of the chapter. Wishing you all well.


	4. Damage Control

Much to his disappointment, Claude woke with the sunrise. Faint light crept beyond the curtain of the window, tracing Hilda’s silhouette with thick celestial lines. He was numb across his thighs where she was resting, and he gently woke her to help her lay long-ways with Lorenz, as Fae, tired and resigned, joined him in dressing and leaving the room.

Though they’d shared some whispers in the bedroom, they were quiet as they tiptoed through the house. The coffee maker was turned on with quiet gestures and nods, and they exchanged smiles of muted amusement as they sat at the kitchen table. There were at least three loud snoring bodies in the living room, and sometimes some hoots of half-formed words — Dimitri speaking in his sleep.

Felix was the first to join them, roused by the scent of caffeine, and then unable to shake his irritation with the noise surrounding him. They spoke softly about the night before, and the forthcoming month, time to get things right, or to risk falling out of new year’s resolutions before they even began.

Caspar found them next, and greeted the trio a little too loudly, clasping a hand over his mouth when met with a mixture of stern surprise. He relaxed when Fae stood to offer him their seat, getting him coffee and accepting his hushed apologies.

Whether or not Caspar had woken them, soon others were finding their way to the kitchen, and before anyone could suggest leaving, Fae started speaking of breakfast. The previous day’s baking had actually added to their egg supply, and Claude was left to sort out fried eggs and french toast, while Fae pulled four packs of bacon from the back of the fridge.

Ingrid, Dimitri, Felix and Caspar left for the corner store again, in search of juice and snacks, and returned in time to meet Sylvain and Lorenz in the entryway, who were bringing each a bag of garbage to the shed. A clumsy dance was shared between them, as they sought their opposing destinations, but it was nothing compared to the squish of the kitchen, where the sink sat opposite the oven, so that Claude worried over pan handles and hot surfaces while the crowd made to wash their hands.

They ate in the living room, and caught the last few minutes of The Seven Year Itch for the length of their meal. When no one wanted to do more dishes, it was decided everyone should wash just what they used, and it was during this cycling through that Geralt joined them, encouraged to eat his share in his armchair while Fae talked him through installing Quiplash on his phone, to accommodate the group’s impending change in activity.

The limit of 8 people meant that they could only play in rounds, which Lorenz felt was a relief, his sense of humor clashing with the room, earning groans of disappointment or immediate laughter, but it felt more at his expense than the subject matter.

Hilda was in Fae’s lap on the floor on the opposite side of the room, while he was tucked away beside Ignatz, a little awkward about sharing laughter and eye contact with Ingrid and Dimitri, and a little distracted by the cadence of Claude’s laughter, as he caught Linhardt as the result of a fake swoon about the language Petra was using.

The honesty of Claude’s joy hit something personal inside him, but that was an emotion he was more and more familiar with all the time. What Lorenz found most distracting of the exaggerated conflict was the way Claude’s forearms flexed and knuckles tensed to keep from dropping his friend, the lithe and lovely figure Linhardt cut across him, harkening him back to his conversation with Ferdinand, nearly forgotten after the night’s commotion.

“Fuck you both.” Petra ended the display by pointing at them with two fingers on her right hand and stealing the bag of chips from Caspar’s lap, declaring, “I’ll be taking these.”

“ **Good** actually,” Caspar agreed, rubbing greasy hands on his pants. “Keep them away from me.”

As the next group got ready for their second round, Lorenz opened their chatting app on his phone instead.

 **Lorenz (11:43 AM):** i’m bisexual ?

He leaned forward on his knee, resting his cheek on the back of his hand as he watched Fae and Hilda exchange a look of confusion.

 **Hilda (11:44 AM):** was that a question?

 **Fae (11:44 AM):** was that _in question_?

Claude had resettled by now, and his expression equated to his response.

 **Claude (11:45 AM):** are you still drunk?

Lorenz huffed.

 **Lorenz (11:45 AM):** no, I was just speaking to Ferdinand yesterday

 **Claude (11:45 AM):** are you fucking serious?!

 **Lorenz (11:46 AM):** and I realized I could look at myself through a lens outside of our relationship

 **Claude (11:46 AM):** you’ve cum INSIDE ME

 **Hilda (11:46 AM):** wtf did you tell ferdie?

 **Claude (11:46 AM):** did you ju

Claude dropped his phone, earning some exclamations of worry.

“Is it cracked?” asked Dimitri.

Claude collected his phone and stood. “No. No, it’s fine.” He sighed. “I just need to…” With a gesture, Claude signaled his leave, earning a nod from Fae. He retreated up the stairs and back into their bedroom.

 **Fae (11:48 AM):** you realize your sexuality can also be viewed within the lens of our relationship?

 **Lorenz (11:49 AM):** I didn’t identify us. I still remember how - rightfully - upset you were initially when I told Sylvain. But for transparency’s sake, I DID tell Ferdinand I had three partners.

 **Lorenz (11:51 AM):** I realize that now, Fae, and feel even more ridiculous for it. I knew I was attracted to the three of you and that I enjoyed - that I DO enjoy what we have, but I hadn’t taken the time to think beyond that, what that might mean about how I defined myself, or how I could act

 **Lorenz (11:52 AM):** I could talk about cute boys with Ferdinand

 **Hilda (11:52 AM):** you could talk about cute boys with us, Lorenz

 **Fae (11:52 AM):** did you think you were on the outside of all our gay jokes?

 **Lorenz (11:53 AM):** I …… did. I thought I was just … relieved not to be excluded

 **Hilda (11:54 AM):** fdsjhagsk I take it back, you can’t be my boyfriend. I’m going to shove you in a locker.

 **Claude (11:55 AM):** see that’s exactly why I’M insulted. There was no way you thought you were gay. So. What. What were you thinking about when we were together, sexually or not.

 **Lorenz (11:55 AM):** That I love you.

 **Lorenz (11:56 AM):** That you’re wonderful and that I never want to lose your interest, your favor, your trust … please.

 **Lorenz (11:57 AM):** I thought what I was sharing was purely personal, and I don’t mean for that to sound as selfish as it does, I just … I didn’t mean to insult you

 **Fae (11:59 AM):** i’m glad you came to that conclusion on your own. i would have been offended on claude’s behalf if you’d confessed that you didn’t think you were bisexual. it’s fun to think you might start recognizing other things about yourself. so long as you still love me

 **Lorenz (11:59 AM):** with all my heart

 **Hilda (12:00 PM):** claude?

 **Claude (12:00 PM):** give me a minute

 **Lorenz (12:01 PM):** I’m sorry. And I’m sorry for doing this now.

 **Claude (12:01 PM):** fae, does your father care that i wandered off?

 **Fae (12:02 PM):** no. you’re fine.

 **Claude (12:02 PM):** thx

 **Claude (12:03 PM):** and … it’s fine, lorenz. i think.

 **Claude (12:05 PM):** i’m just. reconciling that. rather than taking me out to dinner, coming to hide out at my apartment when you’d had a bad day, or having sex with the three of us - that this came up because you were having a conversation with ferdinand

 **Lorenz (12:06 PM):** about you! I stand by that I didn’t talk about US with Ferdinand, but he and I were only talking about sexuality AT ALL because I accidentally referred to having a boyfriend.

 **Lorenz (12:07 PM):** which you know I’ve done in private, I’m just an idiot

 **Fae (12:07 PM):** you’re not an idiot

 **Claude (12:07 PM):** you’re not an idiot

 **Hilda (12:09 PM):** fae’s coming to check on you claude. dimitri almost did. your presence is missed

Fae and Claude kissed and embraced long enough that on the main floor people were dividing up into individual tasks and conversations. Ingrid had already chipped one of her nails from last night, and lamented that Annette had tried to divide herself between her nails and baking, and between this and Ingrid’s impatience with them, her nails hadn’t set quite right. Amused, Linhardt thanked Hilda for his nails and rapped them along his phone in a boisterous display, before suggesting how Ingrid might best remove hers if they were only going to be problematic.

When Fae and Claude returned to the main floor a number of guests were getting ready to shovel the snowdrift the plow had left behind, in preparation of their departure. Fae immediately felt responsible to help, and left Claude to talk with whoever was left inside. Dimitri inadvertently cornered Hilda in the kitchen, and made to apologize, but she swiftly changed the subject to thank him for organizing the server they were all a part of, both for the easy grade and for organizing this party, catching him off guard and setting him at ease — if only after two more stumbled attempts to apologize before he accepted her intention to overlook his error.

Slowly people filed out, and Geralt returned to bed for a nap, leaving only Fae, Claude, Hilda, Lorenz and Ignatz. When it became clear that Ignatz had been dragging his feet about public transportation Lorenz offered to drive him, and the four of them only had a moment alone while Ignatz went to gather his shoes.

“Claude’s?” asked Lorenz, eyeing Claude for permission.

Hilda shook her head. “Maybe later, I want to go home for a bit.”

Claude rolled his eyes at Lorenz and turned to Fae. “You want to come over later?”

Fae pouted and smiled, nodding as they answered, “After you nap. Get some rest.”

“Mm,” Claude agreed, wrapping his arm over their shoulders and cuddling in closer around them. He smiled at Lorenz too, but Lorenz worried it was less sincere, as at least the wink Claude sent his way felt empty, even if it still assured his invitation.

Goodbyes were exchanged, and Ignatz gave up the passenger seat for Hilda when they got into Lorenz’s vehicle. Hilda was quiet while the other two gossiped about the weather and the forthcoming skating season. She hadn’t put on a set of skates in years; uncomfortable things that bit around her ankles and left her knees wobbly for days afterwards, but she was barely paying attention, too distracted by the past few hours.

Besides wondering whether and how Dimitri would think of her and her partners now, she also had to wonder what Lorenz, Fae and Claude saw when they looked at her, now that it was obvious that Lorenz’s train of thought was so far removed from her own. She felt like it wouldn’t be too far-fetched, to imagine that it would be after Lorenz agreed to something more public, and after her own indiscretion in changing her clothes, that being exposed like that, could cause what the four of them had to crumble. Claude would forgive Lorenz, he just had a hard time accepting love even when he recognized it as such, and Lorenz was learning to love too, and would be better about self-reflection before communication in the future, Hilda was sure. It was they ways in which she could see herself as a burden that worried her.

Her eyes were unfocused when Lorenz called her name, obviously concerned that she’d failed to react when they’d arrived at her home.

“Sorry,” she turned away from him and covered her face for a minute before looking back to him with a smile. “I must be tired.” She reached out to squeeze his hand, which only seemed to worry and fluster him further. “Thank you for the ride. Happy new year.” She unbuckled herself as she turned to address Ignatz, “Happy new year.”

“Happy new year,” he echoed, soft and understanding, and Hilda wondered whether she should be relieved that she probably seemed air-headed and lethargic, rather than plagued with worry.

Exiting the vehicle, she and Ignatz exchanged a hug and a more friendly goodbye.

Hilda was more than halfway up the driveway when she heard a door behind her close for a second time, and assumed Ignatz was adjusting a coat or buckle that got caught outside. She was surprised to hear Lorenz call her name.

“Hilda!”

His long legs meant that by the time she was turning, he had already walked around to the passenger side, and he slowed, apprehensive.

“Would you…?” He clenched his fist as he took another step forward. “ **May I** kiss you goodbye?”

Her gaze flickered to the window behind Lorenz, where Ignatz sat, confused and attentive, as if he might be needed. She sighed around the lump in her throat and the warmth in her face, and nodded through the little cloud of condensation that rose around her.

Even as she wondered if or when her friend might look away, she raised her hands to meet Lorenz as he approached, and found herself relieved by his embrace. The kiss was familiar and gentle, and Hilda curled her hands in Lorenz’s coat to keep him close, in case he’d intended it to be quick and casual, which he hadn’t apparently. His affection was care, and he never offered comfort in halves. Afterwards, he smoothed his right thumb over the hair that curled behind her ear and whispered, as if there were anyone close enough to listen, “Are you alright?”

Hilda nodded again, a little frantic, and brought her hand to rest on Lorenz’s wrist, kissing the inside of his thumb as he pulled away.

“I just need a little time.”

“Let me know if there's anything I can do for you,” he asked, pleading, his tone changing with the smile that overtook him, “my elegant winter blossom.” He nodded towards the door. “Go keep warm.”

“I’ll text you,” she assured him in parting, leaving him to stand there until she could wave from the door.

Once home, Lorenz found himself burdened by his overbearing father, eager to discuss things that could easily wait, as a matter of order in structuring the new year, and his life, with the way his schooling was ending, hopefully.

At least there was solidarity in his phone, what with Hilda avoiding her own family whilst in the same house. She found the easiest way to separate herself from them was to run a bath, and this meant losing contact with her too, at least for a little while, but even then Fae remained, chatting between reading and talking with their own father, if much more comfortably.

It was hours before Claude messaged the others.

 **Claude (05:36 PM):** _:crying emoji:_ my sleep schedule……….

 **Fae (05:36 PM):** thank you for staying up last night <\3

 **Hilda (05:37 PM):** and then the second time. we needed you, and you were there

 **Claude (05:37 PM):** _:pensive emoji: :swirling hearts emoji:_ then i’d do it again…

 **Fae (05:37 PM):** tonight?

 **Claude (05:38 PM):** _:upside down smiling emoji:_

**Hilda (05:38 PM):** sdfjghjsd

 **Lorenz (05:40 PM):** I’m sort of … expected for dinner, now, but, could I still come over afterwards? It wouldn’t be until maybe 8:30, but if you’re just trying to rest, I understand.

 **Claude (05:41 PM):** _:perseverance emoji:_ i wish you were here NOW

 **Claude (05:41 PM):** it was weird waking up alone, for a minute I expected to still be in Fae’s bed

 **Claude (05:42 PM):** and i don’t want to make food just for me…

While there was honesty in the statement, Claude had whined mostly for the attention, and smirked as his partners hounded him about eating and whether he’d contacted his family in Almyra. Comforted and motivated, he made his way around his apartment, turning on music, lighting incense and starting his pseudo breakfast-dinner.

“Claude, I’m sorry.”

The words were out of Lorenz’s mouth before the door was half open and he raised a hand to cover his nervous lips, fretting about being eager and overbearing. Claude smiled to see Lorenz so flustered; an earnest, toothy expression. He nodded Lorenz inside and closed the door behind him.

“It’s okay, Lorenz.”

“I … I don’t want you thinking that I’m beyond self-reflection.”

“I don’t,” Claude promised, snickering as Lorenz lowered himself to untie his boots.

“Or … that I could find it in myself to exist in a way that wouldn’t love you.” Lorenz raised his head, but did not stand, and looked up to Claude as he added, “Or regret our time together.”

“Lorenz, you’re borderline hysterical,” Claude said, trying to sound soothing, reaching out a hand to Lorenz’s shoulder, that dropped down between them as Lorenz stood again.

“You seemed _so_ angry,” Lorenz said mournfully, “and rightfully so, and I—”

“And I’ve slept on it,” Claude assured him. “And we’re fine.”

Claude’s hands crept between Lorenz’s open coat and inner layers, finding his hips in a loose embrace.

“We’re fine?” Lorenz echoed, uncertain.

“I mean,” Claude amended, “there’s been a few major miscommunications with you. You need to say what’s on your mind more, but we can be fine. _This_ is fine.” Lorenz felt the tug upon his body and leaned in for a quick kiss, still feeling guilty even through Claude’s smile. “I know you love me.”

Lorenz stammered, linking his hands behind Claude’s back. “I do. I. I really do.”

They kissed again, more slowly this time, and Claude slid his hands up towards Lorenz’s shoulders as they pressed closer together. Lorenz would equate this feeling far more to coming home than he ever had to his father’s house.

“I love you too.” Claude’s breath was still warm on Lorenz’s face when his promise whispered upon his skin, and Lorenz nodded, in hope and understanding and nerves, and didn’t falter when Claude laughed softly as he pulled away.

“So what were you telling Ferdinand when you accidentally admit to having a boyfriend,” Claude asked, mischievous and smug as he dropped himself into his couch on his back, while Lorenz hung his coat.

“Ferdie was talking about pursuing a master’s degree,” Lorenz began, shoving Claude’s legs aside so that he could sit next to him, “and I was going to share what I knew of your experience. I think I was going to talk about being proud of you.”

“You think?” Claude teased.

“Well I am,” Lorenz said as a matter of fact, “proud of you, that is; but whether I would have gotten there in that conversation is something we can only speculate upon. Maybe the opportunity wouldn’t have presented itself — just like it didn’t.”

“Mm,” Claude conceded, his face flush and tight, obviously blushing. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Your accomplishments _are_ actually impressive.”

Claude rolled his eyes.

“I didn’t think I was straight while I was blowing you,” Lorenz asserted, blushing, earned a choked scoff from Claude, which was what he was going for so he laughed through his second sentence. “I just wasn’t thinking about it. At the time.”

“Do you need more time to think about it?”

“No,” Lorenz answered, warm. “No, it had been in the back of my mind for a while, afraid to become a thought in the foreground…”

“I get that,” Claude agreed, shifting into a proper seated position.

Lorenz shook his head, smiling as if confused, “You were so upset earlier. How dare you be understanding.” Claude laughed and Lorenz sighed, looking away from him. “I thought I’d be begging and bargaining when I got here.”

“I could tell,” Claude taunted. “What were you going to offer me?”

“I was thinking three things in immediacy.” Claude pulled on Lorenz as he leaned back into the arm of the couch, and they fussed and fumbled as they found space for Claude to swing his right leg up over the back of the couch and for Lorenz to twist on his side, accepted in the embrace. “Affirmations, of what I like, about what we have and about your body.”

“Mm.”

“Favors, maybe laundry and other chores.”

“Still could.”

Lorenz chuckled, shaking his head and letting a moment pass before admitting what he suspected Claude was needling for, considering their positioning, “And, well, sexual indulgence, to assure you that I like what you like, and find pleasure in your ecstasy.”

“Yeah?”

“As if that’s any kind of news.”

Lorenz craned his neck to kiss Claude twice, feeling quite aware of the weight of his heart, and their precarious position.

“I’m going to fall off this couch,” he whispered, soft and amused.

“Well don’t—” Claude started to warn, squeezing his hands in Lorenz’s shirt, but Lorenz had already let his knee slip to the floor. Claude huffed.

“I don’t mind, exactly,” Lorenz clarified, shifting until he was sitting on his calves. He lowered his arm until he could grope at Claude’s cock through his pajamas.

“Nooo,” Claude whined, a blush and a smile on his face to set Lorenz at ease as he shifted away from his fingers. “I want to make out.”

“I can—”

“Come on.”

Claude led Lorenz by the hand to his bedroom and dropped his phone onto the bed; which was made, to Lorenz’s surprise — which meant it was stuffed into a king size sheet with a sheet and blanket spread out on one side, while three folded sheets and several pillows sat opposite them.

Lorenz sat next to Claude upon the bed, and leaned into each of Claude’s eager kisses, biting at Claude’s gentle mouth while Lorenz worked himself out of his pants for the sake of mobility. It was a relief and luxury to crawl around with Claude afterwards, pulling sighs and moans from those smiling lips with kisses upon his outstretched neck, with groping hands in his hair and upon his back; to shiver together as they humped lazy and comfortable with Lorenz’s tongue behind Claude’s ear.

When Claude’s phone vibrated Claude nearly jumped out of his skin, so raptured in the bubble he and Lorenz had built. Claude rolled over to stretch out and collect the device, and did his best not to purr as Lorenz laid across his back, chin resting over his shoulder.

The number displayed indicated it was the apartment buzzer.

“Fae?” Claude answered.

“Claude?” Fae’s voice called at a distance.

“And me,” sang Hilda.

Smiling at his phone, Claude pressed the button to allow them entry. He whined when Lorenz started to raise himself on his elbows. “Don’t move yet.”

“No?” Lorenz teased, rolling his hips down against Claude’s ass in a few bouncing thrusts that Claude slowly raised himself towards.

“ _Huhhnnn._ Okay, some movement.”

With a soft, airy laugh Lorenz stopped and nuzzled into Claude’s hair; curlier than usual, not gelled down or styled back, just clean and fruit-scented from an earlier shower. He left another kiss on the back of Claude’s head before rolling beside him, on his back, and waiting with him for the knock at the door.

When it came, they both got to their feet, but Lorenz lagged behind, opting to redress before meeting the others at the entrance, exchanging hugs and greetings.

“Are you alright?” Fae asked Claude, eyeing Lorenz to clarify their meaning, and he nodded quietly in a way that assured them that their lack of worry had been justified. “Good.”

Claude led them to the bedroom, where the bed was decidedly less made, but where the four of them could sit together more level than otherwise. It hardly mattered anyway, as Hilda curled up next to him, wrapping herself in the blanket. He gasped about how cold she was, and offered to make her tea while Fae reached out to hold their hands to either side of Hilda’s face.

“I’m fine,” she promised. “It’s just cold out.”

“Lorenz wasn’t so cold,” Claude observed, wrapping his arm around her as Fae shifted away.

“Long-legs-McGee probably only needed to take two steps from his ride to your door,” Hilda teased, causing Lorenz to groan, annoyed and amused.

“It _has_ gotten colder since this afternoon,” Lorenz agreed. He ran his thumb along the back of his opposite hand, “I wouldn’t have kept you to kiss you, if it were this cold earlier.”

Claude sat a little straighter. “Did you kiss Hilda in front of Ignatz?”

“Not in front of him,” Hilda whined, but Lorenz was nodding as if it were a casual thing.

“I wanted Hilda to know I’d follow through, after the morning we’d had.” Lorenz blushed when she looked at him. “He was very supportive, _very respectful,_ ” he promised her, tilting his head, “ **and** ,” Lorenz eyed Fae with a smirk, “doing so encouraged him to confess he’d shared a few first kisses and cuddles with Petra in your basement last night.”

There was the start of an outburst, and so Lorenz extended a hand, “He didn’t ask me not to tell anyone exactly, but, please, be discreet, as with all things.”

Claude clicked his tongue in disappointment.

“Ignatz will expect Lorenz to tell me,” Hilda said, haughty. “So if you have advice you want me to dole out?”

“Because that’ll sound natural,” Claude said, flat.

“I can be insightful,” Hilda whined, and Claude gasped.

“As if I would ever suggest otherwise. I just meant that whatever I’d decide to weigh in on is not the same kind of advice you’d be giving.”

“He’s obviously doing fine on his own,” Fae contributed.

“True,” Claude agreed.

“Unlike you,” Fae added.

“ **Unlike Lorenz** ,” Claude declared. “Within two days he’s told Ferdinand he has partners and kissed Hilda in front of Ignatz.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah,” Claude agreed.

“Oh, Goddess,” Hilda groaned, hiding her face, first in her hands and then in Claude’s chest.

“That’ll be fun won’t it?” Claude asked her. “When Ferdie starts asking you questions?”

What Ingrid and Dimitri might say came to mind also, but Claude didn’t bring them up, as that would take the teasing from friendly to unfair. He squeezed his arms around Hilda.

“I’m sorry,” Lorenz whispered.

Fae reached out to his hand, which he gratefully accepted, though they both watched Hilda, waiting for her reaction.

“Oh, Hilda,” Claude cooed, pouting as she pulled away enough to look at him. “Are you okay?”

Her eyes were tinted red from being tightly closed and she looked crestfallen. She shook head, but more distractedly than in disagreement.

“I’m afraid,” she confessed.

“Of what?” Claude prompted, even as Fae and Lorenz rolled closer around them, encroaching on Hilda’s space.

“Of … of loss. I don’t want to lose the respect of my friends, or academic or professional opportunities because of truths and rumors about us — a-about me… And I don’t want to lose you.”

“You won’t,” Claude promised, but Hilda could see her partners wilt, him included, that her fears weren’t going to be easily dismissed. She hated too that they felt selfish, or at least, centered around what goals and relationships would be available to **her** , rather than being something that might challenge the four of them, even if these stressors would dictate how the four of them could pursue being together, and what she could contribute to the relationship, in terms of time and emotional labour and finances.

“With your permission, I’ll be more transparent with Ferdinand. He wouldn’t want to be a source of distress for you, Hilda,” Lorenz offered, and he felt his heart sink with relief when she nodded in answer.

“No one else has anything **to say** ,” Claude insisted. “And we’ll be right here if they do.”

“We want to bring good things to your life,” Fae said as they reached out to hold Hilda’s shoulder.

“You do.” Hilda took hold of their hand and guided it to her lips and then her lap.

“What do you want to do right now?” Claude asked.

“Heh,” Hilda laughed once, dry, “go wash my face.”

“Alright, well start there,” Claude said with a smile.

He kissed her forehead, and Hilda pulled on Fae’s hand until they kissed her lips next, which left Lorenz. He felt awful, with none of his own opportunities at risk so long as no one reached out to his father, which was … beyond imagining; and yet he had been so short-sighted so as to injure two of his partners in the same day.

“You’d defend me, if I needed you to?” Hilda asked Lorenz. An olive branch.

“With my every resource,” he promised. He wrapped a hand around the back of her neck as she craned forward to kiss him. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Hilda said, and not only to him, as her partners gave her room to get up and excuse herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really thought this was going to be a smut chapter, but I guess that's the next one. I did not expect Hilda to need so much comfort but I wasn't about to skip it. Hopefully you're interested in their relationship as much as the heated moments. If heated is even the right word in this case. Reassurance and intimacy seems to be where we're going! I'd love a kudos or comment, especially if you're a guest.


	5. Relief

Lorenz waited a moment longer after Hilda left before collapsing face first into Fae’s side; he didn’t want to burden Hilda with his guilt over the situation, and expected Fae to be understanding. With a gentle laugh they rolled onto their back and guided him to lay on their stomach.

He groaned mournfully. “Am I always so untrustworthy?”

“No,” Fae promised, carding their hand through his hair. “You’re not wrong in wanting to be able to talk to your friends about your relationships. That’s not even the problem.”

Claude was distracted, watching after where Hilda had gone, and so Fae tugged on his sleeve to draw his attention. “Right,” he agreed, perking up. “No, I… If we were just talking about whether you could tell Ferdinand, there’d be no issue.”

Lorenz sighed as he came back into himself and realized, “And Ignatz **just** knows that I kissed Hilda, which we agreed to. Twice.”

“Twice?” asked Claude, his face crinkling in amusement.

“I wasn’t going to simply dive upon her,” Lorenz said, opening his eyes and turning his head to look to Claude.

Claude was sitting up next to his partners, and he smiled down at Lorenz in response, full of affection.

The sounds of a cupboard door made both of them turn, and Claude left, to offer Hilda the opportunity for more private whispers. She insisted she was fine and had simply been getting a glass of water, but she stuck around in the kitchen with Claude anyway, eating store-bought chocolate chip cookies as he made tea. They spoke about makeup, which Hilda had washed off, and crying faces, which they shared often enough, between stress and emotional fiction.

While Hilda had previously dealt with the realization that she shouldn’t binge the latest season of a favorite show in a night when she was finally working, rather than schooling; it was occurring to her now that Claude wouldn’t be around for those updates, something they’d shared even before dating.

She watched him open a jar of dried orange slices to garnish the steaming mugs of tea, and pouted; another habit of his that would be worth missing. “I know it should be a simple recipe, but either I’d actually start a fire or my family would never stop questioning me if I tried it myself. Did you teach Fae how you do this?”

Claude chuckled. “Hilda, it’s not even a recipe. But I can make you a jar before I leave.”

“As if that would be enough.”

“I should just be gone a few months at a time,” Claude said, though a lump formed in his throat with the assurance, because he couldn’t really know how tight money would be until he’d returned to Almyra.

Fae tossed their partners a peace sign as they exited the bedroom, moving to turn music on in the apartment.

“Come help,” Claude beckoned, and gave each Fae and Hilda their own mugs while he carried his and Lorenz’s back to the bedroom.

Pillows were moved around so that Claude and Hilda could lean back against the wall, while Fae and Lorenz sat closer to the edge of the bed, resting their mugs on the floor between swallows.

There wasn’t much conversation while they downed their drinks, each using their mobile device in different ways. Claude wasn’t really invested in what was on his phone however, thinking instead of how he was trusting them to hold each other together, whether romantically or not he supposed, while he was away. They were his deepest friendships, and to imagine them deteriorating because of the stress of distance was terrifying; but even if they’d only had from today until he left, even that would have been longer than he’d expected, or hoped for, only a few months ago. He was determined though, to show his dedication and interest, to hold onto the joy of having them in his company, relaxed and comfortable.

Hilda leaned over to put her mug on the dresser and started stretching out of a sweater, and Claude sat up straight, smug, relieved.

“Not cold anymore?”

Hilda rolled her eyes over her shoulder affectionately, “No. Thank you.”

“Good,” Claude cooed, leaning toward her and sweeping her hair back over her shoulder as Hilda avoided eye contact and pulled herself out of her bra, leaving her shirt in place.

Claude slipped his left hand between her legs, rubbing her inner thigh and out over her knee affectionately.

“What are you thinking?” he asked softly, pressing a kiss to her covered shoulder.

Hilda leaned her shoulder back, smiling at Claude, thinking for all the world that she appreciated the care he and their partners put into everything, and into her worries. She leaned in to kiss him, tasting of apple-and-rose tea, and oranges.

When they parted, Claude reached out, to run a fingertip across her neck, tapping upon her playfully when he saw that she looked soft and intimate. He smiled to signal their shared wavelength before dropping his left arm to pull her around the waist, as she shuffled back to join him in his lap more securely upon the bed.

Fae stole Lorenz’s attention with a curled hand on his wrist, and he wrapped his opposite around theirs, squeezing upon them as he bumped his lips against their temple in a quick kiss.

He collected his and Fae’s phones and paced to put them securely upon the dresser also, before moving the mugs from the floor. Meanwhile, Fae moved carefully from one mattress to the next to be by Claude’s side while he moved slow and accommodating for Hilda as she pulled him out of his shirt.

“Privacy?” Fae asked, and Claude purred and shook his head, flexing his hands on Hilda’s thighs as she scratched across his chest in gentle, swirling patterns. 

“No,” Hilda assured them, quiet and amused.

Fae slid their right hand up Hilda’s back and held the side of Claude’s arm with their left, as Hilda adjusted her posture to kiss them next. Claude slowly raised his hand, bending his elbow until he could tangle his fingers with Fae’s, ducking forward to nuzzle the side of their neck, smiling when he felt the bed dip by his feet.

Claude, Fae and Hilda kissed each other as if in a round, like a choir; chasing after one another happily until Hilda turned away from them to pull herself from her pants and socks. She jut her head forward, squinting skeptically, when she realized Lorenz was watching longingly, as if he were still worried, as if he weren’t invited.

Hilda turned back to Fae and Claude and shoved at Claude’s upper arm. “Move over.”

As they made room, Hilda nodded Lorenz over, and raised her hand to silence him when he opened his mouth to speak. She folded her fingers in to rest the tip of an acrylic nail, her index finger, on his lower lip as she warned, “Don’t apologize again.”

Lorenz’s body bounced in a silent laugh, and he eased further when Hilda smiled in response to him taking hold of her hand, soft and well-cared for. Her nails had been done in preparation of the party, and were pink near the base, fading purple at short pointed tips, silver and gold glitter upon her middle and ring fingers; a painted display of her care and creativity. He still felt fallible in front of the virtues and forgiveness of his partners, and bare with Hilda able to read him so well.

“I just want you to know I’m earnest. That I take you, and this, seriously,” Lorenz professed. He reached out with his right hand to rest on her collarbone, touching the edge of her neck, and led her hand to his lips with his left, to kiss her knuckles. “That I do, unendingly, love you.”

Hilda leaned forward to kiss him, and barely pulled away to taunt him. “Do you think that wasn’t an apology?”

Lorenz blanched as Fae and Claude giggled in his peripheral vision. “I—? I mean—?”

He was relieved by the warmth of her lips, the caress of her tongue, her hands on his neck and her chest on his heart.

“I love you too,” Hilda promised, and Lorenz felt his face flush, and locked his arms more securely around her.

While Claude loved Lorenz and Hilda deeply, and their resolution, he also loved how Fae became soft and relaxed in his arms, how they pouted in relief about this reassurance in their relationship, and how well Fae loved them. He kissed their cheek to steal their attention, laid on his back with his legs parted, making room for his lover, who laid atop him, shifting slightly from side to side with each kiss.

Lorenz whimpered, and almost made to pull away from Hilda, as she fondled him with one hand, but he steadied when she squeezed at his elbow with her opposing hand. He hummed another noise, soft and understanding, failing to keep his lips from curling into a smile as he felt hers do the same, unfairly justified in being so pleased with herself.

When he tried to move again, she let him, as he was only advancing, bending his left knee upon the bed for her to sit in the crook of his leg, closer and unobstructed.

Lorenz rested his cheek on the side of her head as he asked, “May I take your hair down?”

It was a humorous question for Fae to hear as they pulled themselves from their shirt. They stuck out their tongue at Claude, his delight plain on his face as they swept their hands down over their hair, trying to straighten it.

“Careful,” Fae teased.

“Just admiring the view,” Claude insisted.

Shaking their head, Fae leaned down over him again, adjusting their position so their legs were spread over Claude’s stomach, letting them more freely stretch towards Claude’s mouth. They kissed slow and distracted, parting just enough to make eye contact from time to time, curious and intimate, and amused with Claude fidgeting with the clasp on their bra.

When Fae could pull the article of clothing away, they simply resettled in place, moaning comfortably as Claude smoothed circles on their back and shoulders.

Hilda let Lorenz stretch away from her, her hands sliding across his chest and stomach as he leaned towards the dresser, as if he meant to place her hair ties atop their phones. She dropped one hand on his thigh and squeezed when she saw him roll them over his phone, a gesture he’d certainly learned from watching her.

He pivoted his torso back and forth when he returned to her, and winced as he extended his arms off to his side, confessing, “Shouldn’t have leaned that far. Body doesn’t bend that way.”

Hilda scoffed, pressing her hands up over Lorenz’s waist. He slipped his left hand into the back of her hair, his right massaging the underside of her left breast. He rocked his face against her cheek, kissing the crook of her jaw and the curve of her neck, while firmly pinching and gently tugging at her nipple over the barrier of her clothing.

Claude bent his knees to bump against the back of Fae’s thighs, his hands kneading their ass as he thrust up towards them despite their position not allowing for him to grind in a way that brought either of them any real satisfaction. Fae pulled away to sit up in his lap and Claude nodded his approval, his lips twisting in a little sigh of pleasure as Fae bounced themselves back against his erection.

They balanced themselves with the fingertips on their left hand on Claude’s stomach, and cooed appreciatively. “I like that.”

Groaning in agreement, Claude curled his hands around Fae’s forearms, gently tugging on them in an attempt to keep them in place, even as he smiled about them clambering off of him to start unbuttoning their pants.

Lorenz let his fingernails skirt Hilda’s stomach, guiding her shirt up with the back of his fingertips until it popped up over the swell of her chest. Quickly, the pair of them were adjusting their legs so that he could lower himself to suck on the sensitive side of her breast, fitting his hands on either side of her body, to hold her. Lorenz swept his thumbs up and down in time with the rise and fall of her diaphragm, each blessed breath shared in his company, as he kissed across the warmth of her chest to tease his mouth around and upon one nipple and then the next.

Hilda adjusted her posture so that her upper arms framed and presented her chest, whimpering when Lorenz took the invitation to suck a little longer. Hilda’s soft coo of delight beckoned him forward to kiss her grateful mouth, and he pinched her nipples while her fingers curled in the front of his shirt.

Rolled onto their back, Fae reached out to stroke a hand over Lorenz’s shoulder, and he startled a little to realize that they and Claude were naked, legs curled together even with Claude on his side, while he remained fully dressed.

“Do I keep you too long in suspense?” Lorenz asked Hilda, pulling at his collar and shifting onto his knees to pull himself out of his shirts.

She giggled, and reached out a hand to touch his stomach and playfully obstruct his hands as he sought the fastenings of his pants. “I’ve come to enjoy it.”

“I think they’re making fun of us,” Claude observed, rubbing two fingers along Fae’s lower lips.

“Who’s fault is that?” Fae taunted, curling spit-slick fingers around the head of his cock so that when Claude tried to scoff he practically growled in response.

While their partners kissed and stroked each other, Hilda and Lorenz finished undressing, and then she was directing him to lay on his side — his _other_ side, to be facing Fae and Claude while she curled around him, kissing his ribs and reaching for his cock.

“Hilda, I—?”

“Oh, hello,” Fae greeted, rolling onto their side so that they fit into Claude’s hips as little spoon, curving a clean hand around Lorenz’s jaw to pull him into kisses, first with them and then with Claude, and while Lorenz had been initially prepared to object, now he simply extended his arm down and back so that he could rub at Hilda’s hip to express his thanks.

Claude leaned away from Lorenz to kiss Fae once before adjusting his position.

“Bend his leg up?” Claude requested of Hilda, and he kissed her too as she did so, the pair of them smiling against each other’s lips as Fae giggled and Lorenz whimpered.

Two little sobs of air passed Lorenz’s lips in advance of a moan, and Fae shushed him insincerely as Claude bent at the waist, and spread his lips over Lorenz’s cock. It was erotic, and now, familiar, for Claude to be laid out across his lovers; he delighted in Hilda’s hand in his hair and her praise upon his ears, even as he slipped away from Lorenz to pump at him twice before swallowing him down again. There was humor, and depravity brought on by lust, in losing track of the patterns he’d meant to follow with his tongue, in squeezing a hand on Fae’s knee as they kissed Lorenz overhead.

Claude couldn’t imagine wanting to trade the comfort of each of his partners’ presence for simplicity, just as he could no longer entertain the idea of suppressing his desire to show each of them how much he loved another. To that tune, though more literal than he’d been envisioning, Claude felt his cock throb against the back of Fae’s thigh, and started to pull away from the tangle of bodies.

He kissed Hilda again, and when their mouths parted she confirmed, “Condom?”

“Yeah.”

“Grab the wand,” she requested, running a loose grip of a thumb and two fingers up and down the shaft of Lorenz’s cock. Satisfied by Claude’s smiling response, Hilda squeezed firm before letting go, shuffling around her partners on her knees until she could curl up behind Fae, holding a hand on their stomach just below their breasts as they stretched back to kiss her next.

Lorenz swept his hand up over Fae’s shoulder as Fae raised their hand to rest atop Hilda’s. He leaned forward to bump his nose against theirs when they turned back to him, Hilda’s lips travelled across their neck and back, causing them to gasp and shiver, and Lorenz could trace with his eyes the pattern their goosebumps took as they travelled over their skin, beading their nipples even before he adjusted his posture so that he could press a kiss to the center of their chest, grasping their breast with his left hand.

Fae peeped in surprise as Hilda moved too, her hand caressing down over their belly and across their thigh until she could hold Fae just below their backside. Hilda kissed the curve of Fae’s back just before the swell of their ass, and as they curved their back Lorenz turned to watch, catching their nipple in a kiss of motion as he extended his left hand over their side until he could hold the side of their ass, further stretching their body open when Hilda reached to do the same with her two delicate hands.

“Oh…”

Wracked with new shivers, Fae moaned softly as Hilda leaned in a few times to lap at their pussy, their cry beguiling Lorenz so that he wrapped his lips around their nipple again, a gentle, suctionless kiss, simply holding a sensitive part of them in the warmth of his mouth. Lorenz slipped his hand lower, around the back of their thigh, to hold their legs barely parted as Hilda kept her place and her pace.

Claude sat on the edge of the bed, behind Hilda, and adjusted her hair, squeezing at her shoulder lovingly.

Fae squeaked in surprise as Hilda sucked on the base of their cunt, the edge of their perineum, before pulling away, licking her lips as she rolled half onto her back to accept a kiss, as well as the wand and a condom, from Claude.

Claude pulsed his hand around Hilda’s neck and throat with care, as if in massage, and continued to do so even as he sat back and tossed a condom with his free hand so that it landed on Lorenz’s shoulder, which caused its own sort of problem as it ended up behind him when he rolled to try to reach it. He groaned dismissively as he moved to sit up to find it. Meanwhile Hilda kissed Fae’s hip before sliding down off the base of the bed, calling out to Lorenz, “Don’t put it on yet.”

Lorenz sighed and placed it under the pillow he’d been using for storage, and then whimpered in tortured arousal when he saw how Claude had directed Fae’s head back, stretching their neck out before him as Claude kissed them. Claude released Fae, and trailed simpler kisses from their cheek to their shoulder, holding the side of their head absently with his left hand as he extended his right hand between their legs, gently pressing and prodding at their wet lips as his ring finger found their entrance, slowly forcing his hand around their pussy as this digit delved deeper to Fae’s soft, groaning approval.

As Claude knocked his finger back and forth, he kissed the back of Fae’s ear, whispering, “Good?”

“Yea-ha-ye-yes,” came their stuttered response, weakened further by a bite on the shell of their ear. Claude huffed a breath that expressed all of his pent up desire.

Hilda sat beside Lorenz again, guiding him to his back with a hand on his shoulder, the wand plugged in and its head covered in a condom.

Lorenz smiled as he adjusted his posture, wrapping his left hand around the back of Fae’s neck, his right stroking through Hilda’s hair as she settled in on her side next to him at an angle. Hilda rolled the center of her palm around the head of Lorenz’s cock while the pair of them watched Fae and Claude as he aligned himself.

Fae moaned, low in volume and abundant in sensuality, aware of the effect it would have on their audience as Claude’s fat cock filled them whole.

“Gods,” Claude grunted, stretching his left arm out under himself, caressing Fae’s side with his right hand until he could grip around their right thigh, forcing himself back and forth five times to connect them as deep as the position would allow. He felt solid, in arousal of course, but in spirit too, made real by the love his partners showed him, by the intimacy of being allowed to exist.

Fae twisted their upper body as they extended the back of their right hand to tap at Claude’s shoulder, and the side of his face, seeking to look at him, for just a moment. He kissed the side of their forehead and brought his hand up to their chest, their calve hooked over his upper arm, as he rocked their bodies together in a measured tempo.

Lorenz looked to Hilda in quiet desperation as she let him go, but his expression melted into a smile when she fit the wand between her legs and clicked it to life. Hilda purred just as well as her toy’s little motor as she swept her hands in massage over Lorenz’s balls and pelvis, letting his twitching cock rest on the back of her hand as she watched him lay in suspense.

Leisurely, Hilda left an inaugural, suckling kiss on the base of Lorenz’s cock, and he groaned in relief about the contact, tracing his hand over Hilda’s right arm for the sake of connection and stimulation. His grip froze and he clung to her when she extended her tongue and traced the length of him with her soft wet mouth, and then she was holding him up with her right hand, bathing him in affection as her left disappeared away beneath her body to rock the wand up against her pussy with a happy, throbbing pulse.

She had only just wrapped her lips around the head of him when Fae was repositioning themselves, and Lorenz let his hand slip down to the middle of their back with a whimper as he registered what was happening. Releasing Fae’s leg, Claude continued fucking them together, allowing Fae to bend towards Hilda for several short, careful kisses; sucking Hilda’s tongue from her mouth while Lorenz shifted beneath the pair of them, to where he could attempt to kiss Claude, missing his mouth twice and kissing just above his upper lip.

Fae caressed the fingers of their left hand back and forth across Lorenz’s lower stomach as they wrapped their mouth around the head of his cock, catching a spurt of precum as Hilda kissed the base of his shaft, and Lorenz whined and cursed as Claude closed his left fist in Lorenz’s hair and left a kiss on his cheek.

As Lorenz moved his hand from Fae’s back to hook around Claude’s shoulder, Claude let his own grip grow lax, returning his attention to his slowed pace and stroking his right hand across Fae’s hair and back. Fae moaned appreciatively, and Lorenz trembled as he was traded between his lovers. Fae rested their head on his stomach and laughed a warm breath across his shaft before pressing their lips against him, Hilda bumping them out of the way as she swallowed him to the root.

Fae and Hilda continued their games for both longer and shorter than Lorenz would have liked, and Fae was sucking at the head of his cock while a number of hands stroked at the length of him, Fae’s right arm now hooked under his thigh, bracing themselves against Claude’s increasing momentum.

“Fae,” Claude beckoned, “come here.”

With a hand around their chest, Claude guided them to lean back towards him, letting go eventually to hold their leg instead, keeping their legs parted as they lay, half on their side, as he pressed a kiss to the side of their jaw, returning to pace.

Lorenz and Hilda made knowing eye contact, and Lorenz turned on his side, kissing Fae’s opposite cheek as he reached out to pet their chest and Claude’s. Turning off her toy, Hilda curled over Lorenz’s legs, close to her partners. She first pressed her hand to Fae’s pelvis and ran her thumb over their clit, and then reached lower, between the pair of them, so that she could place two fingers around the base of Claude’s cock and gently tug at him a few times, playing with his angle as he moved, to get both lovers moaning. Both actions were a prelude to tracing kisses on Fae’s thighs and stomach as she clicked the vibrator back to life, and pressed it to where Fae and Claude were connected.

They gasped in surprise, too shocked by the sudden stimulation to moan at first, but then desperate grunts and wanton squeaks were passing their lips as Claude weathered the vibrations and Fae’s clenched embrace, and found the will to move again.

The change in momentum disoriented Fae, who’d been enjoying the steady, languid build towards their peak. They were caught up in short, bitten breaths for one tortuously long minute, but Hilda leaned forward to kiss their chest and their chin, coaxing long, deep gulps of air to pass their lips instead.

Spurred on by her partners’ approval, Hilda bounced the wand against them softly, and Fae’s eyes closed, moaning as their body tightened in orgasm.

Hilda leaned back to admire them and coo praise, the distance letting her watch as Claude’s grip tightened upon Fae, cursing the waves of pleasure pulling him down too; eyes bleary and unfocused, chest trembling in time with each hurried thrust.

Lorenz’s knee curled around Hilda’s mid-back, and he swept a hand over her shoulder and then over Fae’s stomach, smiling when they caught his hand, and running his thumb back and forth on their breastbone as his fingers curled around their thumb.

Fae and Claude felt their pleasure not only rushed on, but dragged out by Hilda’s patient needling. Claude’s whole body curled forward as the wand was taken away, and he pulled out a little too quickly, so that he and Fae both grunted in distress, sensitive and overwrought.

“Sorry,” Claude whispered, his chin resting over Fae’s shoulder. When they could only whine in response, he felt a little worse, and having let go of their leg, wrapped his arm around their stomach, bumping his hand up around theirs and Lorenz’s, tilting his head to press the side of his nose against their neck, breathing with Fae as they settled down.

The lovers split for water, and for Fae and Claude to take turns in clean up. Claude and Fae each dressed in underclothes — boxers and panties, while Lorenz and Hilda each curled in a sheet, less motivated to move with the expectation that they might tangle together soon.

“Mmmm,” Hilda cooed appreciatively when Claude returned.

She bit her bottom lip in a smile as he sat beside her on the bed. He squinted skeptically, even as he smiled. “What?”

“You’re fucking hot,” she answered, smug, sliding a hand up over his stomach. “The work you’ve been putting in’s really paying off.” He scoffed but she only brightened. “We should put you in a more compromising position sometime.”

Claude started leaning forward, as if to kiss Hilda, but Fae’s hand extended across the bed to tangle in his hair, and he froze mid-motion, resulting in him half falling and needing to rest his weight on his wrist. When he caught himself, Fae pulled, softly, tilting his head aside, exposing his neck.

“I could fuck him for you,” Fae teased, and Claude’s eyes fluttered closed, dizzy with a feeling of pins and needles where they held him; eager to be admired.

Hilda giggled, tickled further by the bed bouncing behind her as Lorenz crawled forward.

“Your ass does look nice framed by your harness,” Hilda said, as if in agreement. She pouted as she added, “But then you wouldn’t be left a quivering wreck like today.”

Fae released Claude instantly, hiding their face in their hands.

Lorenz kissed Claude first, still leaned forward as he was, and then ran his hand over the back of Fae’s fingers to encourage them to peak at him.

“As if you could ever look a wreck,” he promised, kissing them as they growled, hands sliding down beneath their chin, the vibrations causing Lorenz to laugh, silently, as they pulled apart. He sighed, and gestured with a fingertip between Fae and Claude as he leaned back towards Hilda. “Though I would rather be what brings either of you to writhing next time.”

Fae frowned, though clearly amused. They asked, “Is being described as writhing better than being described as a quivering wreck?”

Lorenz was leaning over to kiss Hilda’s forehead and then her lips. He blushed as he answered Fae, “I really couldn’t care less. This isn’t a language class, I just want you cumming beneath me.”

Hilda rolled on her side, closer to Fae, mocking Lorenz. “He doesn’t ask for much, does he?”

“Hmm,” Fae hummed thoughtfully, curling towards Hilda to kiss her while Claude adjusted their green hair back over their far shoulder.

Fae pulled Hilda from her sheet with great difficulty, so that their pink-haired partner was giggling as she rocked back and forth to help the process along.

They wrapped their arms around Hilda, her legs parting below their waist as Fae kissed her deeper and Claude snickered when he saw Lorenz’s eyebrows tilt in longing. Pulling himself more securely onto the bed, Claude smoothed a hand across Lorenz’s chest, stealing his attention before kissing him, with more teeth than necessary so that Lorenz whined and leaned away, exposing his neck but for the fall of his hair.

Claude pressed his fingers back over Lorenz’s scalp, pushing his hair back so that he could leave softer, suckling kisses on his skin.

A grunted sigh passed Lorenz’s lips, and he led Claude around to the other side of the bed, so that Claude wasn’t curled up around the head of it, trying to find space around Fae and Hilda.

Free of the fear that Claude might fall on top of them, Fae and Hilda reorientated themselves. Hilda pulled the sheet over Fae, keeping herself warm, while folding the covering by their head so there was no mystery to their movements. Meanwhile Fae lowered themselves to kiss the curves at the base of her stomach, the edge of her hip, the side of her thigh. With their right hand, Fae directed Hilda’s left knee aside, ensuring room to rub the side of their left hand against her pussy.

Lorenz gasped, as allowing Claude closer meant giving him room to wrap his fist around the head of his cock, stroking him long and slow, and pinching upwards on his head to coax precum to smooth the glide.

Claude’s mouth traced from Lorenz’s neck down the front of his chest, until he could settle around Lorenz’s side, slowly laving his nipple while he squeezed his grip firm, and pressed the pad of his thumb in circles below the head of Lorenz’s cock.

Fae slid their middle finger inside Hilda, rubbing their opposite thumb across the top of her mound.

“Yes,” Hilda purred, running her hands over her partner’s forearm and the sides of their face, squeaking a little as Fae moved to massage her, curving their hand as they stroked at her cunt. “ _Yes._ ”

Fae pinched and rubbed across Hilda’s clit with their left hand, stopping their right hand still sometimes to lean forward to carefully kiss at her pussy and thighs. When Fae moved to press a second finger inside their lover, Lorenz sputtered, “F-mnhn- _faster_ , please.”

Hilda reached out to grab Claude by the hair, and he couldn’t help a giggle as he leaned away from Lorenz, resting his hand on Lorenz’s thigh instead so that Lorenz grunted in disappointment.

“That’s a no from our girlfriend,” Claude contributed, and Lorenz blinked his eyes open, looking over at the pair of them, bending his left arm up so he caressed from Hilda’s elbow to her fingers, tangling his own with them as his gaze fluttered down to where Fae was sitting up between Hilda’s legs, sliding their hands up to Hilda’s knees.

Silent and eager, the lovers reoriented themselves, ensuring Hilda was sufficiently propped on a number of pillows closer to the center of the bed so that Claude and Fae didn’t have to fight for space, now both on Hilda’s left.

“Hi Babydoll,” Claude greeted Hilda as he laid next to her, forcing a kiss before she could reply.

“You’re such a fucking asshole,” Hilda responded fondly, biting on her bottom lip to stifle herself when Lorenz, now dressed in a condom, took hold of her hips and lifted her slightly to reposition her. She nodded quiet approval towards him, and shared another quick, wet kiss with Claude, her hands on his face and his shoulder as he caressed his left hand across her belly and around her far hip and thigh, holding her as Lorenz drove them together, letting their lips part so she could whimper and look to Lorenz with pleading, panting pleasure.

Lorenz sighed through clenched teeth, avid and relieved. He wrapped a hand around Hilda’s thigh for purchase and let his eyes flutter closed for just a moment — when he felt her feet hook around his waist, pulling him closer as he bounced them together. His pace wasn’t leisurely, but it was halting, measured and sure, and sometimes indulgent. Directing Hilda’s right leg back to grant him perspective and access, Lorenz rocked his hips from side to side, and in sharp withdrawals so that he could slide himself over her soft lips and down over her clit, still sensitive from the vibrations from earlier.

His right arm rested around Fae, loosely wrapped around his side to accommodate his movements, but close enough to squeeze at Hilda’s legs around him, to caress his body and to lick his opposite nipple as Claude had done, so that his stomach tightened and his cock twitched inside his lover, teased by sight, and sensation, and love.

Claude was petting at Hilda, shying away from how she had to move to accommodate Lorenz. He kissed her cheek and her forehead and her fingers, extending his arm down to skirt his fingertips on Lorenz’s stomach before rubbing circles around her clit.

“Clau-uhwah—” Hilda moaned; and so Lorenz, but his was gibberish.

“Oh, yeah. Come on, that’s it,” Claude praised shifting down the bed so he could nuzzle against her breast, opening his mouth so she bounced against his tongue.

“Hilda,” Lorenz whined, speeding up as Fae pinched at his nipples, extending themselves up on their knees next to him so that their movement stole his attention, for just a second, and as his gaze flickered to them, he found room enough to duck his head in their direction for a soft, affectionate kiss.

Swallowing, Lorenz looked back to Hilda’s stuttering body and cursed under his breath.

Hilda fisted her hand in Claude’s hair, pulling him closer as she came on Lorenz’s exquisite girth. She knew she was hooting, a nonsensical happy noise that her mind distanced from her perspective, focused instead on Lorenz cursing louder, and Claude moaning encouragingly at her side.

When Hilda started to undulate towards Lorenz, her voice empty but for the sounds of her pleasured breaths, Lorenz spoke.

“Claude, Goddess, move.”

Claude laughed as he did as he was told, and Lorenz encroached upon Hilda, bending her further in a way he knew she enjoyed. Claude and Fae kissed as they shuffled closer to him, fondling the side of Lorenz’s ass and the back of his thigh. Lorenz gave Hilda a questioning look, and the pair of them were nodding as he arched enough to kiss her, for just a moment.

Lorenz stretching out over her comfortably, so that if she tilted her head up she could kiss the center of his chest, as she did, folding her right foot around his shoulder blade, holding the back of her knees as he expressed his longing as lovers do, fucking her so that their bodies met with lewd, wet slaps and desperate carnal breaths.

“Oh fuck,” Hilda moaned. “Yes, yes, yes, yes — _ah!_ — nhmn, ah-a, fuck yes, Lorenz!”

“ _Euh..._ ”

“Slap his ass,” Claude suggested, his casual tone brightening a smile on Hilda’s face, three soft bounces of laughter pinching her around Lorenz.

“Fshuu—mn.” Breathless, Lorenz had tried to curse, but was cut off when Fae followed through on Claude’s request. Fae blew him a kiss when he looked over his shoulder to them and Claude, and he couldn’t help rolling his eyes as he looked back to Hilda, who was reaching out with one hand to pet the sweat from his brow into his hair, and then to make the effort to fit a lock back behind his ear.

“Thank you,” he whispered to her, moving again.

“Mmhm,” she answered, wiggling her hips back and forth while his pace had stalled.

“Fuck, you’re divine.” Lorenz thrust himself forward pointedly, earning a moan. He smiled. “Do you want to change positions?”

“Do you?”

“I’m good.”

“Me too.”

Speeding again, Lorenz rolled his knees in circles so that his legs spread further apart and then back to a more natural position, enjoying the friction of the sheets and how the movement forced him closer to Hilda with every wanton shift.

As Hilda and Lorenz echoed each other, revelrous and relaxed, their lovers’ doting hands found them again. Claude even moved to where he could kiss each of them, gentle and kind in his indulgence. The release from suspense meant that the motions and the moment surprised Lorenz with their intensity, and suddenly everything felt euphoric, and he drove himself and Hilda together as his pleasure overwhelmed him.

Hilda gasped for breath, as Lorenz’s climax came with a burst of energy, his hips shifting as his hands found her waist and she gyrated in careful circles, moaning her approval as he clung to her, holding her body close and inescapably joined to his as he came.

Fae and Claude were kissing at his side when Lorenz opened his eyes. A weak noise passed his lips, empty in meaning as he felt in mind. He asked Hilda, “Can I move?”

“Yeah, go,” Hilda assured him, still jittering as he pulled away, but happily, as she rolled to her side, turning to face him, and to lean her body into Claude, as Lorenz swept a hand over his forehead into his hair, swallowing a long, relieved breath.

After clean up and some redressing, they moved to the living room, where Claude and Fae cuddled on the couch, while Lorenz sat in an armchair messaging Ferdinand one-handed with Hilda in his lap, the others watching a special about a hidden, underground city.

Fae scratched their hand up the back of Claude’s hair, distracted by how the next new year might be more stressful, what with Claude’s absence, but smiling about how things were fitting into place, and for the moment, how they were safe together.

“Mmm,” Claude purred, leaning forward. “Scratch my back.”

“I don’t want to scratch your shirt,” Fae whined, and Claude quickly reached overhead to rumple the back of the garment, until Fae could run their nails over his shoulder blades.

“Ohhh,” he sighed. “That’s nice.” He closed his eyes and curled his right hand over Fae’s knee. “How’s Ferdie?”

“More shocked than Sylvain was,” Lorenz said blithely. He blew a kiss to the side of Hilda’s head. “But he’s fine.”

“You know I love you?” Hilda asked him, before they moved to kiss each other’s lips, sufficient acknowledgment. She smiled at Fae and Claude, a blush on her cheeks, and Claude extended his left hand for her to take.

“I’ll make the work you put into this worth it, Hilda,” he promised.

“And we’ll still want you when you get back,” she assured him, without judgement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. I apologize for any or many grammatical tense errors in there. I hope you enjoyed it. I'd love a kudos or comment, especially if you're a guest. <3


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